Isolation, structural characterization and anti – inflammatory screening of three compounds from Strychnos colubrina Linn extract

Abstract

Plants are the natural wealth of any nation. India is a country rich in medicinal plants. Most of the herbal medicines are the only available therapy for certain diseases; for which there are no alternative synthetic therapies are available, eg; chloroquinine for malaria, digoxin for CHF etc. The side effects of medicinal plants are less compared to synthetic medicines. The plant Strychnos colubrina Linn was widely used by the tribes for the treatment of many diseases like inflammations, chicken pox, tumor etc. The dried powdered plant parts were subjected to successive extractions using, pet. ether, chloroform, methanol and water. The extracts of the plant S.colubrina Linn was subjected to preliminary qualitative and quantitative analysis. Then based on the GC – MS analysis, the chloroform extract was subjected to isolation. Three compounds were identified (two isoflavone: daidzein and 5, 7-dihydroxy- 3- ( 3- hydroxy-4- 3,4,5 trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl) tetrahydro pyran-2-yloxy) phenyl) chromen-4-one) and a phenolic compound (isovanillic acid) The extract was subjected to in vitro anti – inflammatory screening and the isolated compounds were subjected to in vivo anti-inflammatory screening. All the three compounds were showed significant anti – inflammatory activity.