Abstract
Most active plants are toxic at high doses and it is therefore important to investigate the preliminary toxicity of plant extracts. The Rourea induta species is a potential drug with no phytochemical or biological studies registered in the literature. Thus, a phytochemical study and a toxicity analysis of the ethanolic extract obtained from the leaves of Rourea induta Planch., Connaraceae, was run. A long chain hydrocarbon, n-tetracosane, and four flavonoids were identified: quercetin, and three glycosylated derivates, quercetin-3-O-α-arabinofuranoside, quercetin-3-O-β-xyloside and quercetin-3-O-β-galactoside. This is the first time these have been isolated in this species. The structures were elucidated by 13C NMR, ¹H NMR, UV and IR spectroscopy. The toxicity evaluation of extracts was performed by the brine shrimp method and determination of hemolytic activity. The samples demonstrated no toxic potential by the analyzed methods.
Highlights
The Connaraceae family comprises approximately 16 genera among 300 to 350 species distributed throughout tropical areas of the world; that consists of the angiosperms characterized by ligneous, trees or shrub species
The hexane fraction of ethanol extract from the leaves of R. induta was subjected to a chromatographic step over silica gel to yield compound 1 (n-tetracosane), while the chloroform fraction was subject to multiple chromatographic steps over silica gel to yield compounds 2, 3 and 4
The mass spectrum showed a characteristic fragmentation of aliphatic hydrocarbons, with 14 mass units between peaks
Summary
The Connaraceae family comprises approximately 16 genera among 300 to 350 species distributed throughout tropical areas of the world; that consists of the angiosperms characterized by ligneous, trees or shrub species. In America, five genera can be found: Bernardinia, Cnestidium, Connarus, Pseudoconnarus and Rourea (Forero, 2007). Connaraceae family native species are spread mainly in the Amazon, and the shrubby species are common in “cerrado” (Brazilian ecosystem composed of short trees and shrubs) and are similar to legume species (Lorenzi, Souza, 2005). In “cerrado”, the family is represented by seven shrubby-arboreal species distributed around the genera Rourea and Connarus (Lenza et al, 2008). The cerrado is the second biggest Brazilian and Latin American biome, and has many potential medicinal species that have not yet been subject to scientific study (Recor, 2009).
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