Phytochemical screening and antioxidant activity studies of cerbera odollam gaertn.

Abstract

A total of three compounds i.e. one 14β (H) steroid and two benzoic acid derivatives have been isolated from the carbon tetrachloride soluble fraction of a methanol extract of the stem bark of Cerbera odollam Gaertn (Family-apocynaceae). The structure of 14β(H) steroid was established to be triticusterol (1) on the basis of spectroscopic data. This is the second example of a naturally occurring compound with a 14β(H)-steroid skeleton. The benzoic acid derivatives were tentatively characterized as 2,6-dihydroxy-4-methoxy benzoic acid (2) and 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-6-methyl benzoic acid (3). The n-hexane, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform and aqueous soluble fractions of methanolic extract of the bark showed moderate to potent antioxidant activity, of which the chloroform soluble fraction demonstrated the strongest antioxidant activity with IC50 value 21.0 µg/ml.