A new pterocarpan from the leaves of Abrus precatorius L..

Abstract

A pterocarpan, 2,3,4,8-tetramethoxy-6a,11a-dihydro-6H-benzo[4,5]furo[3,2-c]chromene-7,9-diol (compound 1) was isolated from the dichloromethane extract of the leaves of Abrus precatorius L. The structure of the compound was elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis such as 1H NMR, 13C NMR, distortionless enhancement by polarisation transfer (DEPT), heteronuclear multiple-quantum correlation (HMQC) and heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation (HMBC). The crude extracts displayed brine shrimp lethality and in vitro antimalarial activity. The methanolic crude extract demonstrated an A/B ratio of 9.7 signifying that it is more toxic against Plasmodium falciparum than brine shrimp.