PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF HYMENAEA COURBARIL AND EVALUATION OF THE TRYPANOCIDAL ACTIVITY

Purpose : Phytochemical study and in vitro trypanocidal activity of Hymenaea courbaril , named “jatoba”, were executed with the hydroalcoolic crude extracts from exocarp and farinaceous pulp. Methods : An aliquot of the pulp extract was applied in preparative plates. It was possible to isolate two fractions with different Rf (coded as PIHC-1and PIHC-2). Using HPLC preparative of the hydroalcoolic exocarp extract was possible to isolate a compound coded as F-1B-3. Results : The GC-MS analysis of PIHC-1 showed that the major compounds are: 2-nonenal, sitostenone and pseudotaraxasterol acetate. The analysis of data obtained from 1 H-NMR and 13 C-NMR spectra allowed the identification of PIHC-2 as the triterpene acetate of the betulinic acid and F-1B-3 as the diterpene isoozic acid. The results of the trypanocidal activity showed that the pulp extract was the most active against trypomastigostes forms of Trypanosoma cruzi having an IC 50 of 64.4µg/mL. For the compounds, the best results were obtained for the PIHC-2 (IC 50 =15.6µM). Conclusion : The compound acetate of the betulinic acid (PIHC-2) may be related to the tripanocidal activity exhibited by hydroalcoolic pulp extract.