Abstract

Afieroho O. E.* and Ajuzie J. I.

ABSTRACT

In a continued drive to characterized the constituents of the fruits of Harungana madagascariensis a plant widely used in ethnomedicine, this study is aimed at a phytochemical screening–guided column chromatography fractionation and isolation of triterpenoids from the non-polar solvent extract/fraction of the fresh and air-dried fruits of Harungana madagascariensis Two extraction and isolation protocols: isolation from the dichloromethane fraction from the cold macerated crude absolute ethanol extract of the fresh fruits, and isolation from the n-hexane fraction of the cold percolation crude chloroform extract of the air-dried fruit were employed. The structure of the isolated triterpenoid was elucidated using spectroscopic techniques and by comparing the obtained spectra data with that reported in literature. The known pentacyclic isoprenoid ketone friedelin was isolated and characterized from both the fresh and air-dried fruits of H. madagascariensis. The yield obtained with the air-dried fruits was ninety fold higher compared to that with the fresh fruits. This study is reporting for the first time the isolation of friedelin a known plant derived bioactive triterpenoid from the fruits of H. madagascariensis a plant widely used in ethno-medicine.