Bingervone, An Antiprotozoal Beta-Triketone Derivative From The Roots Of Uvaria Afzelii (Annonaceae)

Uvaria afzelii Scott Elliot (Annonaceae) is an African traditional medicinal plant. In Ivory Coast, roots of the plant are commonly used as antiparasitic and against others ailments. During our previous investigation on the roots one 1-indanone derivative was obtained together with other compounds that showing interesting antiprotozoal activities. The aim of this study was to isolate other antiprotozoal compounds. The chloromethylenic extract of the roots was fractionated on silica and Sephadex (R) LH-20 gels columns chromatography. The new syncarpic acid derivative, bingervone (1), was isolated together with the known compounds, demethoxymatteucinol (2) and emorydone (3). The structures of these compounds were established by NMR, IR, UV and HRESIMS spectroscopic data. Bingervone (1) displayed weak antitrypanosomal activity against Trypanosoma brucei brucei trypomastigotes, with a LC100 value of 114.8 mu M, and moderated antileishmanial activities against Leishmania donovani and L. major promastigotes, with IC50 values of 38.9 and 44.4 mu M, respectively. These antileishmanial activities were in the range of reference drug used.