Planta Med 2002; 68(7): 662-664
DOI: 10.1055/s-2002-32907
Letter
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

The Toxicity of Some Quassinoids from Eurycoma longifolia

Kit-Lam Chan1 , Chee-Yan Choo1
  • 1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
Weitere Informationen

Publikationsverlauf

Received: December 4, 2001

Accepted: March 23, 2002

Publikationsdatum:
22. Juli 2002 (online)

Abstact

The 50 % aqueous ethanol extract of Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Simaroubaceace) roots was partitioned with diethyl ether, n-butanol and then water. Acute toxicity studies of each fraction on mice administered orally and brine shrimps revealed that the n-butanol fraction was the most toxic. Toxicity-guided chromatographic fractionation of the n-butanol fraction identified eurycomanone as the most toxic component. 13,21-Dihydroeurycoma-none, eurycomanol, longilactone, 14,15β-dihydroxyklaineanone and eurycomanol-2-O-β-glucopyranoside were 2.8, 33, 44, 88.9 and > 100 times less toxic on brine shrimps, respectively. A C20-type quassinoid, an α,β-unsaturated ketone in ring A, an exomethylene function at C-13 and an oxymethylene bridge connecting C-8 and C-11 of ring C contributed to increased toxicity.

References

  • 1 Chan K L, O’Neill M J, Phillipson J D, Warhurst D C. Plants as sources of antimalarial drugs. Part 3. Eurycoma longifolia .  Planta Medica. 1986;  52 105-7
  • 2 Kardono L BS, Angerhofer C K, Tsauri S, Padmawinata K, Pezzuto J M, Kinghorn D. Cytotoxic and antimalarial constituents of the roots of Eurycoma longifolia .  J Nat Prod. 1991;  54 1360-7
  • 3 Chan K L, Lee S P, Sam T W, Han B H. A quassinoid glycoside from the roots of Eurycoma longifolia .  Phytochemistry. 1989;  28 2857-9
  • 4 Tada H, Yasuda F, Otani K, Doteuchi M, Ishara Y, Shiro M. New antiulcer quassinoids from Eurycoma longifolia .  Eur J Medicinal Chemistry. 1991;  26 345-9
  • 5 Chan K L, Lee S P, Yuen K H. Antipyretic activity of quassinoids from Eurycoma longifolia Jack. In: Ghazally I, Murtedza M, Laily D, editors Chemical Prospecting in Malayan Forest. Pelanduk Publications: Selangor; 1995: 219-24
  • 6 Morita H, Kishi E, Takeya K, Itokawa H, Tanaka O. New quassinoids from the roots of Eurycoma longifolia. Chemistry Lett 1990: 749-52

Prof. Dr. Kit-Lam Chan

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Universiti Sains Malaysia

11800 Penang

Malaysia

eMail: klchan@usm.my

Fax: +604-6576836