ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF STIGMASTEROL AND -SITOSTEROL FROM WOOD BARK EXTRACT OF Baccaurea macrocarpa Miq. Mull. Arg

Abstract

Baccaurea macrocarpa Miq. Mull. Arg. (known locally as Tampoi) is one of the edible fruit plants found in the forests of Borneo. The crude extract of wood bark of Tampoi was partitioned with n-hexane and ethyl acetate successively to yield respectively soluble fractions to biological activity assay. The toxicity was measured by the brine shrimp lethality test method, and the antioxidant activity was carried out by the DPPH radical scavenging method. While the isolation and purification were carried out using flash column chromatography. The results of the biological assay showed that the ethyl acetate fraction was the most active in the antioxidant activity test, with IC50 values 35.56 µg/ml, and none of the fractions is toxic. Isolation and purification of the ethyl acetate fraction gave white crystalline powder with a melting point 129 - 130 OC. Characterization of the compound based on FT-IR, 1H, 13C-NMR, NMR 2D spectra and comparison to that of the published NMR data suggested that the compound (1) was a mixture of stigmasterol and-sitosterol.