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.

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.