Secondary Metabolites from Schefflera odorata Blanco
Consolacion Y. Ragasa* and Kathleen Lim
Chemistry Department, De La Salle University
2401 Taft Avenue, Manila 1004, Philippines
corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
The leaves of Schefflera odorata afforded oleanolic acid (1), lutein (2), fatty alcohols, and hydrocarbons. The structure of 1 was elucidated by extensive 1D and 2D NMR analyses, while the structure of 2 was deduced by comparison of its 1H NMR spectral data with those of lutein.
INTRODUCTION
Schefflera odorata Blanco, commonly known as "five fingers" is a famous indoor plant. The biological activities of the plant include treatment of asthma, liver diseases, rheumatism, arthritis, sprains, fracture, stomach pain, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, migraine, and general tonic (Quisumbing 1978). A saponin was reported to be potential modulator of the cell-signalling pathway (De Castro-Bernas & Ramos 2001). Although there is only one reported study on S. odorata, a number of studies have been reported on the congener of the plant. A betulinic acid glycoside was isolated from S. venulosa (Purohit et al. 1991). Oleanolic acid, a bidesmosidic triterpene saponin, and a trisaccharide were isolated from S. octophylla (Sung et al. 1991). S. lucantha afforded triterpenoid glycosides (Pancharoen et al. 1994). The aerial parts of S. divaricata produced triterpenoid saponins (De Tommasi et al. 1997). Triterpenoid saponins, along with oleanolic acid (Srivastava & Jain 1989) and a new triterpene (Shrivastava 1992) were obtained from S. impressa. The leaves of S. bodinieri afforded triterpenoids and a triterpene glycoside (Zho et al. 1996), while the roots of the plant afforded triterpene glycosides (Zho et al. 1996). . . .
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