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DOI 10.1007/s11418-008-0229-0
Received: 12 October 2007 / Accepted: 20 December 2007 / Published online: 13 February 2008
The Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy and Springer 2008
this controversy has been resolved and it is has been concluded that Brahmi is B. monnieri and Mandookaparni is
C. asiatica [2]. The plant is indigenous to South-East Asia,
India, Sri Lanka, parts of China, the western South Sea
Islands, Madagascar, South Africa, South-East USA,
Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia and eastern South America.
Previously, triterpenoid acids [28], volatile and fatty oils
[2, 9], alkaloids [9], glycosides [2, 3, 913], flavonoids
[2, 11], and steroids [2, 9] have been isolated from the
different parts of the plant. This paper deals with the isolation and structural elucidation of two new constituents
(1, 2) and one known constituent 3, and the antioxidant
effect of these isolates.
Introduction
Results and discussion
Centella or Indian pennywort, Centella asiatica (Linn.)
Urban syn. Hydrocotyle asiatica Linn., belonging to the
family Apiaceae, is valued in Indian systems of medicine
for improving memory and for the treatment of nervine
disorders and skin diseases [1]. It has been used extensively
as a memory enhancer. The herb is known as Brahmi in
Unani medicine, Mandookaparni in Ayurveda and Gotu
Kola in the Western world. In India, the plant was previously confused with Bacopa monnieri Wettst., as both were
sold in the market under the name Brahmi. However,
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370
Table 1 NMR data for
compounds 1 and 2
Position
1
dH (mult., J [HZ])
2
COSY
dH (mult., J [HZ])
COSY
dC
157.8
159.2
136.5
136.4
172.0
171.7
162.7
158.4
H-8
99.4
H-8
99.6
164.4
H-6
94.6
158.6
6.50 (d, 2.1)
H-6
94.4
148.2
157.8
10
104.4
104.7
10
125.6
2
30
H-6
115.3
144.8
H-3
H-20
50
H-60
116.0
H-60
116.5
60
H-50
130.6
H-50 ,20
117.7
200
H-300
132.6
H-600
117.4
300
H-200
115.7
130.7
116.1
125.5
0
40
148.8
00
148.5
133.1
00
126.4
148.6
161.6
152.3
500
H-600
115.6
H-600
119.5
600
H-500
131.6
H-500 ,200
117.1
00
H-8
00
148.4
H-800
148.6
800
H-700
115.4
H-700
116.6
900
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dC
170.6
170.5
371
Table 2 Antioxidant activity of compounds 1 and 2
Sample
Concentration
(lg/ml)
Percentage of
inhibition
9.04
25
57.08
50
84.74
18.10
25
75.44
50
85.24
IC50
(lg/ml)
23.10
13.31
Gallic
acid
14.58
3'
2'
HO
4'
1'
8
9
OH
2
5'
6'
2''
6
10
5
4''
9''
OH
3''
CH
CH
8''
OH
1''
7''
5''
6''
OH
OH
HO
OH
O
OH
HO
O
HO
2''
5''
6''
C
a
HO
7''
COOH
1''
CH
OH
CH
3''
4''
2'
a'
O
OH
C
O
OH
1'
3'
'
6'
4'
5'
OH
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372
Plant material
The whole plant material of C. asiatica was collected from
the Nilgris district, Tamilnadu, India in August 2005. The
Botany Department of Government Arts College,
Udhagamandalam, The Nilgiris identified the plant
material and a voucher specimen has been deposited at the
college.
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Antioxidant activity
Different concentrations (5, 25, 50 lg/ml) of test solution
and reference standard were placed in different microtitre
plates; 10 ll DPPH (1.3 mg/ml in methanol) solution was
added to each well. Finally, sufficient methanol was added
to make the volume up to 250 ll in each well. The reaction
mixture was mixed and incubated at room temperature for
20 min; the absorbance was measured at 516 nm. Gallic
acid was used as positive control.
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