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Abstract
Methanol extract from the heartwood of Tanzanian wood species, Commiphora mollis (Burseraceae) showed high antifungal activity against the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor. The bioassay-guided fractionation indicated that the ethyl acetate soluble fraction was responsible for the antifungal property of the extract. By means of Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and preparative thin-layer chromatography methods, six flavonoids, isosakuranetin, sakuranetin, naringenin, okanin, eriodictyol and (+)-taxifolin have been isolated and identified. These six flavonoids were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography, and isosakuranetin, sakuranetin and naringenin were found to be the main components in the ethyl acetate soluble fraction. The antifungal assay using the homogenised T. versicolor hyphae revealed that only isosakuranetin and sakuranetin exhibited high antifungal activity. This result suggested that the methylation of hydroxyl groups in the A-ring or B-ring of naringenin or other similar flavonoids could endow the flavonoids with higher antifungal potential.