Triterpenes and a canthinone aekaloid from the stems of Simaba polyphylla (cavaecante) W.W. Thomas (simaroubaceae)

Abstract

Simaba polyphylla is a small tree found in the Amazon region, known by the common names "marupazinho" or "serve para tudo". It is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of fevers. This work describes the phytochemical study of the hexane extract and chloroform fraction obtained by partitioning the methanol extract of stems, which led to isolation and identification of the triterpenes niloticin, dyhidroniloticin, taraxerone and of the cytotoxic alkaloid 9-methoxy-canthin-6-one. These compounds are described for the first time in S. polyphylla.