Bioactive compounds from Lippia javanica and Hoslundia opposita

Lippia javanica and Hoslundia opposita are aromatic herbs that occur all over Mozambique and are well known for their medicinal properties. A Phytochemical investigation of L. javanica led to the isolation of eight compounds, 4-ethyl-nonacosane (1), (E)-2(3)-tagetenone epoxide (2), myrcenone (3), piperitenone (4), apigenin (5), cirsimaritin (6), 6-methoxyluteolin 4'-methyl ether (7), 6-methoxyluteolin and 3',4',7-trimethyl ether (8). Three known compounds, 5,7-dimethoxy-6-methylflavone (9), hoslunddiol (10) and euscaphic acid (11) were isolated from H. opposita. This is the first report of compounds 1, 2, 5-8 from L. javanica and of compound (9) from H. opposita. The compounds were tested against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV-1 reverse transcriptase for bioactivity. It was found that compounds 2, 4 and 9 inhibited the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase enzyme by 91, 53 and 52%, respectively, at 100 microg mL(-1). Of all the compounds tested against a drug-sensitive strain of M. tuberculosis, euscaphic acid (11) was found to exhibit a minimum inhibitory concentration of 50 microg mL(-1) against this strain.