CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS FROM THE FRUITS OF MOMORDICA BALSAMINA L.
Showkat Rassol Mir, Mohammed Ali*, Vidhu Aeri and Ujjwal Kaushik
ABSTRACT
Momordica balsamina L. (family Cucurbitaceae) is a tendril-bearing annual vine with ovoid-ellipsoid, orange-red, warty fruits. Its fruits are anthelmintic, antiseptic, edible, purgative and vermifuge, used to treat burns, chapped hands, diabetes, headache, intestinal and stomach complaints, malaria, piles, sores and wounds. The present study was designed to isolate and characterize chemical constituents from the fruits of M. balsamina. Phytochemical investigations of a defatted ethanolic extract of the fruits resulted in the isolation of a fatty acid characterized as n-docosanoic acid (behenic acid, 1), a new acyl galactoside identified as (Z)-13-docos-13-enoyl O-β-D-galactopyranoside (erucicyl O-β-D-galactopyranoside, 3) and three tetracyclic triterpenoids recognized as cucurbit-5,7-dien-3β-ol (2), cucurbit-5-en-3β-ol 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4) and cucurbit-5-en-3β-olyl 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(4′→1′′)-O-β-D-glucopyranosidic 4′′-linolenate (5). All these chemical constituents are reported for the first time from this plant.
Keywords: Momordica balsamina, fruits, extraction, phytoconstituents, isolation, spectral data, characterization.
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