Jatropha pelargoniifolia (Euphorbiaceae), widely known as “Obab” is a medicinal plant widely used throughout Africa, Yamen & Saudi Arabia. Genus Jatropha growing worldwide and comprising about 175 species(1). Reviewing the current literature for the phytochemical and biological importance of the plants belonging to genus Jatropha revealed many biological interests such as wound inflammation & infection, skin ulcer, jaundice & hemorrhoids but nothing was reported regarding the titled plants(2). Thus, it was of interest to explore the active constituents and the biological activities for J. pelargoniifolia.
Previous phytochemical investigation on different plants belonging to genus Jatropha revealed the presence of several classes of secondary metabolites including, terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids etc(3). Repeated chromatographic separation and purification of petroleum ether, dichloromethane & ethyl acetate extracts of J. pelargoniifolia root, using different chromatographic techniques resulted in the isolation of several compounds. The structures of the isolated compounds have been elucidated by using different spectroscopic techniques including 1&2 D NMR and identified as; β.sitosterol, β-sitosterol glucoside, curcusons C&D, naringenin, apigenin, pyrimidine-2,4-(1 H,3 H)-dione, 2,3-dihydro-1-methyl-1 H-pyrrolo[2,3-b] pyridine-6-Ol, cleomiscosins A&B and propacin. Furthermore, hepatoprotective, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic & anti-oxidant activities were conducted on methanolic extract of different plant parts and showed significant hepatoprotective, analgesic & anti-oxidant activities. Perhaps, the obtained biological results were due to the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, diterpenes & non-conventional coumarinolignans in high yield.
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[1] Trivedi S, Gaudani H, Gupta M, Gupta N, Patil P, Gupta G, Krishna V & Reddy MP. The Int J Agric Sci 2012; 1:11 – 20.
[2] Schmelzer GH & GuribFakim A. Jatropha Pelargoniifolia. Record from PROTA4U. PROTA Plant Resources of Tropical Africa/Ressources végétales de l'Afrique tropicale, Wageningen, Netherlands 2007.
[3] Zhang XP, Zhang ML, Su XH, Huo CH, Gu YC& Shi QW. Chemistry & Biodiversity 2009;2166 – 2183.
