Biological Activities of Constituentsfrom Psychotria spectabilis

Abstract

In a biological and phytochemical study on the leaves of Psychotria spectabilis. Steyerm., seven compounds were isolated and identified from the CHCl3/MeOH (2:1, v/v) and MeOH extracts. Among the isolates were two diterpenes, solidagenone and deoxysolidagenone; three coumarins, coumarin, umbelliferone, and psoralene; and two flavonols, quercetin and quercetrin. Biological evaluations showed that diterpenes and coumarins exhibited antifungal activity against the filamentous fungi Cladosporium cladosporioides. (Fresen) de Vries and C. sphaerospermum. Penzig. Solidagenone and psoralene also displayed selective cytotoxic activity against Rad 52Y mutant yeast strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.. In this paper, the isolation, structure elucidation, and bioactivity results of these compounds are reported.