Unimity of Calymia, Berkeky, Ca/.$mia 94720hSTRACr.--The novel alkaloid N-methyl-2,3,6-trimethoxymorphi~dien-7-one Noxide [2] has been isolated as a minor constituent from Als&phnept7uknrrisS. Alsdpbne perakensis (Gamb.) Kosterm. (Iauraceae) is a tree of moderate size that is widely distributed throughout peninsular Malaysia. Although there has been no reported use of this plant in traditional folk medicine practices (l), in field tests the leaves were found to be rich in alkaloids (2).' Initial chemical work on this species (3) led to the isolation of the major alkaloidal component, N-methyl-2,3 ,6-trimethoxymorphinandien-7-one El), a compound noted previously in Cocculus laurafolius DC. (Menispermaceae) (4), Rhzgzucarya w emifeu Miers (Menispermaceae) ( 5 ) , and Litsea sebifera B1. (Lauraceae) (6).In further work, we have now isolated a new polar, minor alkaloid, N-methyl-2,3,6-trimethoxymorphinandien-7-one N-oxide 121 present in the extract of the 1 'At the time of collection and preparation of this "Proceedings" the plant was tentatively assigned, incorrectly, as Deba&a mirrocmpa. 0 2 leaves of A . perakmis. All attempts to crystalize the alkaloid, which is rather hygroscopic, proved hitless, and after purification by multiple preparative tlc the compound was obtained as an amorphous, pale yellow solid.The spectroscopic data were particularly useful in assigning structure. The uv spectrum is similar to that of 1 (7), suggesting close similarities in the respective chromophores, and the ir spectrum substantiated the presence of the conjugated carbonyl and aromatic functionalities. The general appearance of the 'H-nmr spectrum of 2 was also similar to that of 1, with the exception of small chemical shift differences in comparable resonances. Three methoxy substituents and the N-methyl group were clearly present (6 3.89, 3.85, 3.80, and 3.41, respectively), and four one-proton singlet signals were consistent with the two para oriented aromatic protons and the two cyclohexadienonyl protons. Other discrete structural elements recognizable, which were ac-

In this study, phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity as well as phenolic content in the leaves,twigs and barks of Brucea javanica (L.) were determined using standard phytochemical screeningmethod, DPPH radical scavenging assay and Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method, respectively. Methanolicextracts of these different plant parts were prepared by maceration method. Phytochemical screeningrevealed the presence of flavonoids, terpenoids and tannins in all plant parts. This test also revealed thepresence of alkaloids and saponins in all plant parts except they were absent in the twigs and barks parts,respectively. On the other hand, steroids was absent in all plant parts. DPPH method was used toevaluate the antioxidant properties of the plant parts by measuring the absorbance at 517 nm. Theantioxidant activity was then compared with standard ascorbic acid. Among all parts, methanolic extractof leaves of Brucea javanica (L.) exhibited the highest antioxidant activity at the concentration of 100ppm with 86.19 ± 0.20% inhibition which was comparable with standard ascorbic acid with 97.62 ±0.13% inhibition at the same concentration. The IC50 value of the methanolic extract of leaves was 54.52± 0.16 ppm while the other parts were more than 100 ppm. All plant parts showed IC50 value higher thanthe standard ascorbic acid which recorded IC50 of 9.04 ± 0.09 ppm. The methanolic extract of the leavesalso exhibited the highest total phenolic content which was 105.58 ± 0.21 mg GAE/g extract compared tothe other parts. This result correlated well with the higher antioxidant activity exhibited by themethanolic extract of the leaves. Thus, the leaves part of methanolic extract of Brucea javanica (L.)exhibited the highest antioxidant activity compared to the other plant parts. Keywords: Brucea javanica (L.), simaroubaceae, phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity, phenolic content