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Published on: December 5, 2020
New Abietane Diterpenes from Euphorbia Pseudocactus Berger (Euphorbiaceae) and Their Antimicrobial Activity
Azza Ramy Abdel-Monem1, Enas Hussein Abdelrahman1
1Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt.
Background:
Euphorbia is the largest genus in Euphorbiaceae. Terpenoids were isolated from most species of this genus.
Objective:
Since no previous study was reported about Euphorbia pseudocactus Berger, we started here a phytochemical investigation on this species to isolate and identify its terpenoid constituents and to estimate the antimicrobial activity of the isolated compounds.
Materials And Methods:
The n-hexane fraction of the ethanolic extract of E. pseudocactus Berger was chromatographed on silica gel columns, the structures of the isolated compounds (1-5) were identified based on their MS, 1 D, and 2 D NMR spectral data. The antimicrobial activity of the n-hexane fraction and the isolated compounds (1-4) was investigated using diffusion plate method against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus [12600] and Bacillus subtilis [6051]) and Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa [10145] and Escherichia coli [11775]) bacteria, yeast (Candida albicans [7102]), and fungi (Aspergillus flavus).
Results:
Two triterpenes (glut-5-en-3 β-ol [1] and olean-12,15-diene-3 β-ol [2]) and three abietane diterpene (3-hydoxy-19-cyclopropenoyloxy-abietane [3], ent-abieta-9,12,14-triene-12,16-olide [4], and 12,19-dihydroxy-abieta-5-ene [5]) were isolated. Compound 1 exhibited no antibacterial activity against the tested bacteria, compound 2 and n-hexane fraction exhibited weak activity, whereas compounds 3 and 4 showed moderate activity. All samples showed no activity against the tested yeast and fungi.
Discussion And Conclusion:
Five compounds were isolated for the 1(st) time from E. pseudocactus Berger, three of them (3-5) are new natural compounds. As the major isolated compound (1) exhibited no antimicrobial activity, the observed activity of the n-hexane fraction is mainly due to its diterpenoid constituents.
Summary:
Two known triterpenes and three new diterpenes were isolated from n-hexane fraction of Euphorbia pseudocactusThe abietane diterpenoids showed higher antimicrobial activity than n-hexane fraction. Abbreviations used: EtOAc: Ethyl acetate, TLC: Thin layer chromatography.
