Revista de farmacognosia y productos naturales

Chemical Constituents of the Stem Barks of Podocarpus falcatus and Evaluation for Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

Desalegn Abebe Deresa*, Zelalem Abdissa, Getahun Tadesse Gurmessa and Negera Abdissa

Chromatographic separation of equal ratio of CH₂Cl₂-MeOH extract of the stem barks of Podocarpus falcatus led to the isolation of three compounds namely: 4β-carboxy-19-nor-totarol (1), β-sitosterol (2), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (3) and (E)-methyl-3, 4, 5-trimethylhex-2-enoate (4). The structures of the compounds were established based on the analysis of 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic data. These compounds were reported from this plant for the first time. The crude extract and isolated compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial activity using disk diffusion assay method. The crude extract showed a strong activity against S. aureus. Compounds (1) and (2) showed a relatively moderate activity against S. flexineri and S. typhimurium respectively, whereas, compound (3) and (4) demonstrated a strong activity against S. aureus. The crude extract and the isolated compounds showed antibacterial activity as compared to the reference gentamycin indicating that this plant has potentially antibacterial properties.