CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS FROM THE RHIZOMES OF ACORUS CALAMUS, AERIAL PARTS OF DIGERA MURICATA, FRUITS OF GREWIA ASIATICA AND LEAVES OF OCIMUM SANCTUM

Shahnaz Sultana, Mohammed Ali*, Showkat Rassol Mir and Shazia Usmani

ABSTRACT

The rhizomes of Acorus calamus L. (Acoraceae), aerial parts of Digera muricata (L.) Mart. (Amaranthaceae), fruits of Grewia asiatica L. (Malvaceae) and leaves of Ocimum sanctum L. (Lamiaceae) are used to treat various diseases. This study was planned to isolate phytoconstituents from these plant materials and to characterize their structures. The air-dried powders of the herbal drugs (1.0 kg each) were exhaustively extracted with methanol individually and the concentrated each extract was adsorbed on silica gel separately for preparation of slurries. Each dried slurry was subjected to silica gel column packed in petroleum ether. The columns were eluted with organic solvents in order of increasing polarity to isolate the compounds. The rhizomes of A. calamus afforded stearyl oleate (1) and eudesman-11-ol-8β, 13-olide (2). The aerial parts of D. muricata furnished phenolic glucosides identified as 3-isopropanoic acid phenyl 1-O-α-D-glucopyranoside (3) and resorcinyl 1-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(6′→1′′)-O- β-D-glucopyranoside (4). An acyclic sesquiterpenic acid 2,10-dimethyl-6-methylene dodecan-1-oic acid (5) and cerotic acid (6) were isolated from the fruits of Grewia asiatica. The leaves of O. sanctum gave a carotenol carot-4,6,8,10,12,14,2′(17′), 6′(8′), 10′(19′),14′(20′)-decaene-1′-ol (ocimum xanthin, 7) and a diterpenic ester kaur-5,15(17)-dien-7β-olyl vanillate (kaurdienoyl vanillate, 8). The structures of these phytoconstituents have been established on the basis of spectral data analysis and chemical reactions.

Keywords: Acorus calamus rhizomes, Digera muricata aerial parts, Grewia asiatica fruits, Ocimum sanctum leaves, phytoconstituents, isolation, characterization.