Abstract:
Chromatographic separation of the roots of Mucuna macrocarpa led to the isolation of
nine compounds. They were four triterpenoids: lupenone, lupane, betulinic acid and lupeol, two
steroids: stigmasterol and -sitosterol, one anthraquinone: vismiaquinone C, one alkaloid:
murrayanine and one benzaldehyde: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde. Their structures were elucidated on
the basis of spectroscopic techniques.
Bioactivity assays showed that the compounds lupenone and vismiaquinone C exhibited
antibacterial activities against Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Salmonella
typhimurium with the minimum inhibition concentrations (MICs) values of 32-64 μg/mL. The
crude methanolic extracts (on 2002 and 2006) showed strong antioxidation activities (IC50 0.31
and 0.88 mg/mL, respectively). The crude acetone extracts (on 2002 and 2006) showed good
antioxidation activities with the IC50 of 1.32 and 3.30 mg/mL, respectively. The crude
dichloromethane extracts showed weak activity in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical
assay. All of the compounds showed weak antioxidative activities when tested with DPPH radical
and less than 10% for radical scavenging activity.
