Structural Elucidation of two Compounds from the Fruit of Medicinally Important Plant, Basella rubra

Basella rubra is a medicinal plant species found in India and other parts of Asia and tropical Africa. It improves the appetite, useful in biliousness, leprosy, dysentery, ulcers and it has antiviral and antipyretic activity. The red pigment from the fruit has good colouring ability. It is bright purple at pH 3-7. It is a good additive and a safe, non-poisonous colorant. At present, the dyestuff industry has grown rapidly because of the vital role played by small – scale sector, which is responsible for the production of azo, acids, basics and direct dyes. But such synthetic dyes have toxic effect and hence may not be useful in edible substances. Therefore keeping this in mind the structure of two separated compounds from the fruit pigment of medicinally important plant Besella rubra were elucidated. The structures of the compounds have been characterized on the basis of spectral data such as IR, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR and Mass spectral studies.