Ethnic uses, pharmacological and phytochemical profile of genus Grewia

The aim of present survey is to identify and document the plants used amongst the indigenes of Sariska and Siliserh regions of Alwar district from Rajasthan, India. A total of 110 species of plants representing 88 genera and 43 families employed in the literature as traditional medical practice have been recorded from the studied regions. Ailments such as fever, diorrhoea, dysentery, skin-problems, jaundice, rheumatism etc. are mostly treated with the different medicinal plants. Due to overgrazing, encroachments, unsustainable utilization and other developmental activities in the regions, several persistent medicinal plant species are on the verge of extinction. Due to lack of awareness and research on these groups of plant in this area, people of this region are unaware of the wealth of this heritage. The survey provides a veritable source of information for traditional medical practitioners and medicinal plant researchers and help in developing strategies for future conservation.

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Ethnobotanical Survey of Sariska and Siliserh Regions from Alwar District of Rajasthan, India

Bioactive phenolics from mango leaves (Mangifera indica L.)

Repeated chromatography of the EtOAc-soluble fraction from the 70% EtOH extract of the flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum (clove) led to the isolation and characterization of four new flavonol glucuronides, rhamnetin-3-O-β-d-glucuronide (1), rhamnazin-3-O-β-d-glucuronide (2), rhamnazin-3-O-β-d-glucuronide-6″-methyl ester (3), and rhamnocitrin-3-O-β-d-glucuronide-6″-methyl ester (4), together with 15 flavonoids (5–19) having previously known chemical structures. The structures of the new compounds 1–4 were determined by interpretation of spectroscopic data, particularly by 1D- and 2D-NMR studies. Six flavonoids (6, 7, 9, 14, 18, and 19) were isolated from the flower buds of S. aromaticum for the first time in this study. The flavonoids were examined for their cytotoxicity against human ovarian cancer cells (A2780) using MTT assays. Among the isolates, pachypodol (19) showed the most potent cytotoxicity on A2780 cells with an IC50 value of 8.02 μM.

New Flavonol Glucuronides from the Flower Buds of Syzygium aromaticum (Clove).

Camellia nitidissima Chi (CNC) is a valuable medicinal and edible plant in China. In this study, CNC flowers were extracted with 95% ethanol, then partitioned into dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water fractions, with the antioxidant capacity of flavonoids and other phytochemicals in CNC flowers investigated for the first time. Results showed that the ethyl acetate fraction exhibited the strongest antioxidant capacity and highest total phenolic content (TPC) compared with the other fractions. Furthermore, in the ethyl acetate fraction, the 50% effective concentrations (EC50) of ABTS+ and DPPH radical scavenging activities were 64.24 ± 1.80 and 78.80 ± 0.34 μg/mL, respectively, and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) was 801.49 ± 2.30 μM FeSO4 at 1,000 μg/mL. Pearson’s correlation coefficients and principal component analyses (PCA) for the TPC and antioxidant capacity of the five fractions indicated that the phenolic compounds were the major antioxidant constituents in the flowers. To exploit the antioxidants in CNC flowers, 21 phenolic compounds in the ethanolic extract fraction were identified by HPLC Triple TOF MS/MS, next, 12 flavonoids were isolated and elucidated, of which compounds 1–5 showed potent antioxidant capacity. In addition, the potential structure-activity relationship among these 12 flavonoids showed that (1) the o-catechol group in the B-ring was primarily responsible for the antioxidant capacity of flavonoids and (2) steric hindrance, produced by glycosides and other groups, could reduce the antioxidant capacity of the flavonoids.

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B A I S Balasooriya

Papers

Glycosides from Grewia damine and Filicium decipiens.