Bioactive Terpenoids from Roots and Leaves of Jatropha gaumeri

Abstract

Abstract. The methanolic extracts of roots and leaves of Jatropha gaumeri showed antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, respectively. The bioassay-guided purification of the root extract resulted in the isolation and identification of 2-epi-jatrogrossidione (1), a rhamno-folane diterpene with antimicrobial activity, and of 15-epi-4E-jatrogrossidentadione (2), a lathyrane diterpene without biological activity. Similarly, the bioassay-guided purification of the crude leaf extract allowed the identification of β-sitosterol and the triterpenes α-amyrin, β-amyrin and taraxasterol, as the metabolites responsible for the antioxidant activity. We wish to report here the isolation of the metabolites mentioned above and the complete assignment, not reported to date, of the 13C NMR signals for 1.