Phytochemical study of four plants from the family Myrsinaceae

Four Peruvian plants (Cybianthus magnus, Myrsine latifolia, Myrsine congesta and Myrsine sessiliflora) belonging to the Myrsinaceae family have been studied in search of molecules with antileishmanial activity. From the hydromethanolic extract of three parts of each plant (leaves, stem and roots) 10 compounds were purified and identified. The purification was performed using chromatographic methods (HPLC; semi preparative chromatography) and the structure elucidation was accomplished by 1D, 2D NMR spectra (¹H-¹H, ¹³C, DEPT, COSY, HSQC, HMBC). One new compound was isolated and identified as 5-alkylresorcinolglucoside, named Cybianthoside A (1), from C. magnus. From the other plants, six flavonoids were isolated: (-) catechin, catechin-3-O-rhamnopyranoside (2), quercetin-3-O-rhamnopyranoside (3), isorhamnetin-3-O-rhamnopyranoside (4), quercetin-3-O-arabinopyranoside (5) and quercetin-3-O-arabinofuranoside (6); one lignan: lyoniresinol-9'-O-glucopyranoside (7); one resorcinol derivative: 12'Z-5-heptadec-12'-enylresorcinol (8) and two chromanes: myrsinoic acid B (9) and myrsinoic B methyl ester (10). Extracts and fractions were evaluated for their antileishmanial activity but no activity was detected.

Fig. 1: Structure of compounds 1 to 10.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the FRB (Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité, France) for the financial support through a grant to Dr. M. Haddad (Project DIPERSAP). The authors thank Rodolfo Vasquez, Rocio Rojas, José Mateo and Juan Perea from the Missouri Botanical Garden of Oxapampa, Peru and Carlos Amasifuen, for their help to collect the plants for this project. The authors thank MESR for a grant and the AFERP for financing participation in GA2014 Congress.