The genus Lippia comprises approximately 200 species of herbs, shrubs and small trees, distributed throughout the South and Central America and tropical Africa. The species Lippia gracilis Schauer is an endemic aromatic plant of the Brazilian Northeast normally found in the states of Bahia, Sergipe and Piauí. The traditional communities of Caatinga, a semi-arid region of the Brazilian Northeast, use its leaves to treat throat and mouth infections, cutaneous diseases, ulcers, vagina disorders, acne, Pityriasis alba, dandruff, burns, wounds, sinusitis, bronchitis, nasal congestion, headache, jaundice and paralysis. Considering that the main investigations into the L. gracilis Schauer species are focused on its volatile constituents, in this report, we describe the isolation, by liquid chromatography with diode array detector-solid phase extraction/nuclear magnetic resonance (LC-DAD-SPE/NMR), of five flavonoids besides free and glycosidically bound carvacrol from an infusion of the leaves of a genotype of this species.
Keywords: Lippia gracilis Schauer, infusion, LC-DAD-SPE/NMR, flavonoids, carvacrol
IntroductionBrazilian plants have a great potential to be explored because, for many of them, there is little or no knowledge of their chemical compositions.1 Lippia gracilis Schauer (Verbenaceae) is a species that is included in this group once, to our knowledge, there is only one report about its non-volatile constituents, 2 while most reports are focused on studies on the composition of essential oils and their biological activities.
3-21The genus Lippia comprises approximately 200 species of herbs, shrubs and small trees, distributed throughout the South and Central America countries and tropical Africa.
22The species L. gracilis Schauer is an endemic aromatic plant to the Brazilian Northeast normally found in the states of Bahia, Sergipe and Piauí. The traditional communities of Caatinga, a semi-arid region of the Brazilian Northeast, use its leaves to treat throat and mouth infections, cutaneous diseases, ulcers, vagina disorders, acne, Pityriasis alba, dandruff, burns, wounds, sinusitis, bronchitis, nasal congestion, headache, jaundice and paralysis. [23][24][25] Although there is little knowledge about the non-volatile constituents of L. gracilis, there are several phytochemical studies describing the isolation of various compounds from other species of this genus, including iridoid glucosides, phenylethanoid glucosides, phenylpropanoids, triterpenes saponins, flavonoids, naphthoquinones, flavonoids glucosides, lignans, sesquiterpenes and triterpenes. Previous chemical investigations into the L. gracilis Schauer species are focused on its volatile constituents where thymol and carvacrol, which showed strong antimicrobial activity against fungi and bacteria, are the main components. 12 The chemical composition of the volatile compounds shows quantitative variations of the The literature only reports one study on the isolation of fixed constituents from the methanolic extract from the leaves of L. gracilis Schau...