Bioactive Terpenoids from the Roots of Cyphostemmaniveum

Abstract

Cyphostemmaniveum (Vitaceae) is a plant traditionally used against bacteria, woundand pest in Ethiopia. In view of its traditional use and absence of scientific report, the roots of Cyphostemmaniveum were successively extracted with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol to furnish 1 g (0.33%), 5.1 g (1.7%) and 20g (6.7%), respectively. Silica gel column chromatography of the EtOAc extract led to the isolation of two compounds identified as β-sitosterol and compound 2, the later was isolated for the first time from the genus.The methanol, EtOAc extract and isolated compounds were assessed for their antibacterial activity against S. aureus, E. coil, P. mirabilis and K. pneumonia. Results showed that compound 2 displayed activity against all bacterial pathogens tested in this study while the methanol extract was found to be active only against S. aureus suggesting that compound 2 is responsible for the antibacterial activity of the roots of the plant.The antibacterial activity displayed by the extract and compound 2 substantiate the traditional use of this plant against bacteria.Furthermore, the antioxidant activities of the extracts and isolated compounds were evaluated using DPPH and the result revealed that MeOH extract displayed modest DPPH radical scavenging activity compared with ascorbic acid.

Keywords: Cyphostemmaniveum, Antibacterial, Antioxidant, β-sitosterol, compound 2