Chemical profile and biological activities of Deguelia duckeana A.M.G. Azevedo (Fabaceae)

Abstract

Deguelia duckeana is popularly known as timbó and used by indigenous people as ictiotoxic. On account of there being no literature pertaining to the chemical profile or biological activity of this plant, the hexane, methanol and aqueous crude extracts from leaves, stems and roots were assayed that presented very high cytotoxic potential against Artemia salina, achieving 100% mortality in up to 5.0 µg mL⁻¹ concentration, but lower antioxidant potential on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl and Fe³⁺/Phenanthroline assays. The phytochemical analysis of crude extracts showed the presence of flavonoids and related compounds as major constituents as well as steroids in all of them, and tannins in polar extracts. All the extracts were assayed for antibacterial activity but only the hexane extract of stems showed moderate activity on Staphylococcus aureus, which was fractionated and yielded a mixture of 3,5,4′-trimethoxy-4-prenylstilbene, lonchocarpine, 4-hydroxylonchocarpine and derricidine, reported for the first time in D. duckeana and other fraction with β-sitosterol and stigmasterol mixture.

Keywords:

• Deguelia duckeana
• chalcones
• stilbene
• flavonoids
• antibacterial
• Artemia salina toxicity
• Fabaceae

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to CT-Agro/CNPq, CAPES/CENBAM, PPBio/CNPq and FAPEAM.

C.V. Nunez would like to express her appreciation for the contributions of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman. His work on Natural Products Chemistry, mainly the books: 13C-NMR of Natural Products: ‘Monoterpenes and Sesquiterpenes’, 13C-NMR of Natural Products: ‘Diterpenes’, ‘Handbook of Natural Products Data: Pentacyclic Triterpenes’, ‘Handbook of Natural Products Data, Pentacyclic Triterpenoids’ and ‘Solving Problems with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy’ were extremely important for my scientific formation. His books must be read by any Natural Products scientist who hopes to acquire full knowledge on this field.