Planta Med 2011; 77 - P_43
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1273572

Antifungal Activity of Xanthones from Centaurium spicatum (Gentianaceae)

SA Ross 1, 2, MA El-Shanawany 3, GA Mohamed 4, AM Nafady 4, SR Ibrahim 3, MM Radwan 1, 5
  • 1National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy, University 38677, USA
  • 2Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, School of Pharmacy, University 38677, USA
  • 3Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt
  • 4Department of Pharmacgonsy, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt
  • 5Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Centaurium spicatum L. is an erect little-branched annual herb, wide spread in Europe [1]. The chloroformic fraction of the roots of Centaurium spicatum L. afforded one new xanthone named 1,5,8-trihydroxy-3,6,7-trimethoxyxanthone (1) together with six known xanthones (2–7), one of them isolated for the first time from a plant source (2). The structures of the isolated compounds were established based on 1D and 2D (1H-1H COSY, HMQC, and HMBC) NMR spectroscopy, in addition to high resolution mass spectrometry. The isolated compounds were tested for their antimicrobial and antiprotozoal activities. Compound 6 displayed moderate antifungal activity against Candida krusei and C. neoformans with IC50 values of 12.8 and 17.9µg/mL respectively.

R1

R2

R3

R4

1

OH

OCH3

OCH3

OH

2

H

OCH3

H

OH

3

OCH3

H

H

OCH3

4

OCH3

OCH3

OCH3

OCH3

5

OH

H

H

H

6

OCH3

OH

H

H

7

OCH3

H

H

OH

Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Dr. Bharanti Avula for the HRESIMS data and to Dr. Melissa Jacob for the antimicrobial testing.

References: [1] Everard B, (1969) Flowers of Europe, London Oxford University Press, New York, Toronto, 313–314.