Chemical and Biological Prospecting of Caatinga Species: Euphorbia tirucalli, Bredemeyera brevifolia and Bredemeyera floribunda
Euphorbia tirucalli; Biological Activities; Flavonoids; Triterpenes; Xanthones; Phenolic compounds.
Brazilian biodiversity is an inexhaustible source of organic molecules of biological interest, the caatinga biome has a great contribution to the search for these biotechnological potential molecules. Numerous species of the caatinga are reported in the literature by the broad spectrum of biological activity and chemical diversity of their micromolecular constituents. Due to the potential of this biome, the chemical and biological investigation of three species of the caatinga, Euphorbia tirucalli L., Bredemeyera floribunda Willd and Bredemeyera brevifolia resulted in the isolation of several compounds by chromatographic technique. Thus, the study allowed the isolation of a pentacyclic triterpene, β-amyrin, from an elagic acid derivative, 3,5-dimethoxy-4'-hydroxy-4-pyran-raminose-ellagic acid, reported for the first time in literature, in addition to other phenolic derivatives belonging to the E. tirucalli species. The study also allowed the isolation of mono and trimethoxylated xanthones in the genus Bredemeyera as well as flavonoid compounds such as quercetin, Canferol and rutin. The characterization and structural elucidation of the compounds were performed through the analysis of Hydrogen-1 and Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry data through uni and bidimention pulse sequences as well as the comparison with literature data.