Wood residues from Zygia racemosa (Ducke) Barneby & J.W. Grimes: Secondary metabolites, physical properties and anatomical aspects of the wood

Abstract

Zygia racemosa (Ducke) Barneby & J.W. Grimes (syn. Pithecellobium racemosum Ducke) is a large tree with its geographic distribution restricted to South America (Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru and Suriname). It has a wide occurrence in the Brazilian Amazon and is abundant in campinarana and terra firme forest. In the present work, we evaluated the secondary metabolites, physical properties and anatomical aspects of wood residues of the species. The chromatographic fractionations of the hexane extract led to the isolation of steroids identified as spinastenone (1) and spinaterol (2). The methanol extract provided the steroids 1 and nonanoate-cholest-7, 22-dien-3β-ol (3), the triterpenes oleanolic acid (4) and 3β,21β-dihydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid (5). The basic density found was 0.81 g/cm3 and the anisotropic factor was 1.90, which confirms its excellent quality. The acquisition of a sample of wood residues from Zygia racemosa was an opportunity to generate knowledge regarding the secondary metabolism, the physical properties and the anatomical aspects of the wood of this species. The steroids and triterpenes identified suggest that they are associated with plant defense in Z. racemosa.