European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS FROM THE STEM BARK OF BAUHINIA RACEMOSA LAM. AND LEAVES OF MACHILUS BOMBYCINA KING EX HOOK. F.

Shahnaz Sultana, Kamaruz Zaman, Mohammed Ali* and Showkat Rassol Mir

ABSTRACT

Bauhinia racemosa Lam. (Caesalpiniaceae), distributed in India and other regions of south eastern Asia, is used o treat diarrhoea, dysentery, epilepsy, liver ailments, blood diseases, fever, headache, inflammation, malaria, skin diseases, tumors and ulcers. Machilus bombycina King ex Hook. f. (Lauraceae), known as som, is found in China, India and other south eastern countries. Its leaves are beneficial to cure pimples and rheumatism. This study was planned to isolate phytoconstituents from these plant materials and to characterized their structures. The air-dried powders of the herbal drugs (1.0 kg each) were exhaustively extracted with methanol individually and the concentrated each extract was adsorbed on silica gel separately for preparation of slurries. Each dried slurry was subjected to silica gel column packed in petroleum ether. The columns were eluted with organic solvents in order of increasing polarity to isolate the compounds. Phytochemical investigation of a methanolic extract of the stem bark of B. racemosa led to isolate n-decanoyl O-α-D-galactopyranoside (capryl O-α-D-galactoside, 1), linoleiyl O-α-D-arabinopyranoside (2), α-D-galctopyranosyl-(6→1′)-O-α-D-galactopyranoside (α-D-6-O-digalactoside, 3), linoleiyl O-α-D-galactopyranosyl-(6′→1′′)-O-α-D-galactopyranoside (linoleiyl O-α-D-digalactoside, 4), α-D-galactoyranosyl-(6→1′)-O-α-D-galactopyranosyl -(6′→1′′)-O-α-D-galactopyranoside (α-D-6-O-trigalactoside, 5) and α-D-galactopyranosyl-(6→1ʹ)-α-D-galactopyranosyl-(6ʹ→1ʹʹ)-α-D-galactopyranosyl-(6ʹʹ→1ʹʹʹ)- α-D-galactopyranoside (α-D-6-O-tetragalactoside, 6). Column chromatography of a methanolic extract of the leaves of Machilus bombycina afforded 8,21-dihydroxylanost-5,25 (26)-dien-3-olyl behenate (7) and 5,7-dihydroxy-3′,4′-dimethoxyflavanone-7-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(6′′→1′′′)-α-D-rhamnopyranoside (8). The structures of these phytoconstituents have been established by spectral data analysis and chemical reactions.

Keywords: Bauhinia Racemosa, Machilus Bombycina, Phytoconstituents, Isolation, Characterization.