Our search for antimicrobial and cytotoxic leads from <i>Ficus sycomorus</i> led to the isolation of twenty-four known compounds (<b>1</b>‒<b>24</b>) from its methanolic stem bark and root extracts. The structures of all the isolated compounds were established using their 1D- and 2D-NMR spectroscopic data while the crude extracts, some fractions and compounds were tested for their antibacterial, antifungal and cytotoxicity activities. In the antimicrobial assay, compound <b>18</b> displayed good to moderate activity with MIC values of 31.25 µg/ml against <i>Escherichia coli</i>, 125 µg/ml against <i>Salmonella typhimurium</i> cpc and <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>, while compounds <b>10</b>, <b>13</b> and <b>14</b> demonstrated moderate activities on almost all the tested strains, with the highest potency observed for compound <b>13</b> on <i>E. coli</i> (MIC = 125 µg/ml). However, although compounds <b>18</b> and <b>19</b> gave a significant inhibition of the VERO cell line ATCC CRT-1586 with CC₅₀ values of 52.60 µg/ml and 69.10 µg/ml, respectively, all the extract samples and other tested compounds did not show distinguishable cytotoxicity. Finally, the chemophenetic significance of the isolated compounds is discussed.

Phytochemical investigation of the aerial roots of Ficus sur, a Cameroonian medicinal plant, resulted in a previously undescribed cerebroside, suroside (1), in addition to its aglycon congener suramide (2). Moreover, six known natural products including alpinumisoflavone (3), wighteone metabolite (4), oleanolic acid (5), β-sitosterol (6), β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7), and epi-ѱ-taraxastanolone (8) were identified. The structures of the previously undescribed compounds were determined by analysis of 1D and 2D-NMR (One and two dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance), mass spectrometry, chemical conversion, and by comparison of these data with those from the literature. Wighteone metabolite (4) exhibited a weak cytotoxic activity against the human HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells with an IC50 value of 51.9 µM.