Isolation and characterization of antimicrobial compound from the stem-bark of the traditionally used medicinal plant Adenium obesum

BackgroundMedicinal plants constitute a natural reservoir for medicines worldwide. They serve mainstream therapeutics and are central in folklore medicine. In case of Adenium obesum (Lav, Apocynaceae), indigenous people of Oman use it for the treatment of venereal diseases, wounds, skin diseases, headaches, muscle pain as well as joint pain; yet, the active ingredients have not been classified. To screened the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of an identified compound that we isolated from the highest active chloroform extract.MethodsThe antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the extracts and the isolated compound were determined by diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and disc diffusion methods. To characterize the compound, we used TLC, column, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D-NMR, IR and MS.ResultsThe highest antioxidant activity was found in chloroform extract with EC50 value of 28.32 μg/ml followed by water, methanol, butanol, ethyl acetate and hexane extracts, their IC50 being 29.95, 39.17, 42.40, 43.20 and 57.00 μg/ml respectively. All crude extracts and pure compound displayed moderate antimicrobial activity against one Gram positive Staphylococcus aureus and three Gram negative Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus vulgaris within growth inhibition range of 0-13 mm. The active metabolite was identified as 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid (R)-1-carboxy-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) ethyl ester which is a common plant ingredient known as rosmarinic acid.ConclusionThe results indicate that walnut chloroform fraction may contain effective compounds with a broad spectrum of curative applications. This is the first report on isolation and characterization of a compound from chloroform crude extract of A. obesum.

Graphical abstract3,4-Dihydroxycinnamic acid (R)-1-carboxy-2-(3,4-dihydroxy phenyl) ethyl ester (1) was isolated from the stems-bark of Adenium obesum. The characterized isolated compound was isolated first times from the active chloroform crude extract of A. obesum.Download high-res image (93KB)Download full-size image