Coumarins and carbazoles with antiplasmodial activity from Clausena harmandiana

Activity guided fractionation of extracts from Clausena harmandiana have led to the identification of four known compounds, heptaphylline (1), clausine K (2), dentatin (5), and clausarin (6). All these compounds, except clausine K (2), exhibited antiplasmodial activity against Plasmodium falciparum. While the new dimethylated derivative 4, derived from 2, showed no antiplasmodial activity, the monomethylated product 3 (clausine H) exhibited activity comparable to that observed for compounds 1 and 5.