Isolation and Biological Activity of the Triterpene Β-Amyrin from the AerialPlant Parts of Maesobotrya Barteri (Baill)

Maesobotrya barteri (Baill), belonging to the family EUPHORBIACEAE, is a medicinal plant growing widely in tropical Africa. The Aerial plant parts of Maesobotrya barteri (Bail) were collected fresh from Orokam, Ogbadibo local Government of Benue State, Nigeria in July, 2013. Taxonomical identification was done by Mallam Musa Abdullahi at the Herbarium unit of Biological sciences Department, ABU, Zaria, Nigeria. Pulverized aerial parts of Maesobotrya barteri (960g) was exhaustively extracted successively using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol and concentrated in the rotary evaporator at 40°C. The ethyl acetate fraction having the highest activity against test microbes from preliminary crude microbial screenings was subjected to phytochemical studies, antimicrobial analysis and column chromatography (CC). The column chromatography yielded fraction EN, which was further purified using preparative thin layer chromatography to give EN1. The structure of the isolated compound was established using 1-D NMR and 2-D NMR spectroscopic analysis and by direct comparism with data reported in literature was confirmed to be β-amyrin. The bioactivity of this compound was carried out using some clinical pathogens and the activity compared with standard drugs and this was found to be comparable with the standard drug.