Bioactive compounds from the leaves of Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack

Abstract

Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack is a tropical evergreen rounded shrub found in South and Southeast Asia, China and Australia. Recent phytochemical studies revealed a positive correlation between the traditional usage and several groups of active constituents in the class of coumarin, cinnamate, flavone and polyphenol. In this work, thirty-three compounds were isolated from the leaves of M. paniculata. 2,6,2′,6′-Tetramethoxy-4,4′-bis-(1,2-trans-2,3-epoxy-1-hydroxypropyl) biphenyl (20) and medioresinol (21) were reported for the first time as constituents in this plant. Antifeedant, insecticidal, repellent, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antihuman carbonic anhydrase II activities of some isolated compounds were investigated. The MeOH extract exhibited antifeedant activity against S. litura larva with 62% antifeedant index. Insecticidal activity of three main compounds, murrangatin acetate (5), auraptene (2) and phebalosin (3) exhibited the high percentage of larval mortality in range of 80-93%, together with good repellent activity. Only scopoletin (12) displayed moderate antioxidant activity with IC50 289 µg/mL. Nonetheless, all compounds did not show antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity. Interestingly, murpaniculol (17) and octanoyl coumarin (35) inhibited the activity of human carbonic anhydrase II at the lowest concentration of <0.032 µM.