Chemical constituents from Centaurothamnus maximus and their antimicrobial activity

Abstract

A new sesquiterpene lactone, 3β,10α-dihydroxy-10β-(hydroxymethyl)-8α-(4-hydroxymethacrylate)-1αH,5αH,6βH,7αH-guai-4(15), 11(13)-dien-6,12-olide (1), along with twenty-one known compounds, were identified from the aerial parts of Centaurothamnus maximus. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic evidences and correlated with known compounds. Compounds (2, 3, 5‒13 and 15‒22) were identified from C. maximus for the first time. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the isolated compounds were tested using the agar disc diffusion method. Compounds that demonstrated promising antimicrobial activity were evaluated for their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The results showed that compounds 3 and 7 were the most effective antibacterial compounds against B. subtilis ATCC 6633, S. aureus ATCC 25923 and S. pyogenes ATCC 27736, with MIC estimates between 8 and 32 mg/mL. In addition, compound 2 exhibited the strongest antifungal activity against C. albicans ATCC 14243 and C. krusei ATCC 14243 with MIC 8 mg/mL.

Graphical Abstract

HIGHLIGHTS

• Twenty-two compounds were first isolated from Centaurothamnus maximus

• The structure of the new sesquiterpene lactone, thamnolide (1), was established.

• Antibacterial and antifungal activities were tested for the isolated compounds.

• Compounds 3 and 7 were the strongest antibacterial compounds whilst 2 exhibited the strongest antifungal activity.

Keywords:

• Centaurothamnus maximus
• Asteraceae
• sesquiterpene lactone
• antibacterial
• antifungal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, through the Research Groups Program Grant no. (RGP-1440-0014)(2).