The search for biologically active secondary metabolites

✍ Scribed by Hostettmann, Kurt; Wolfender, Jean-Luc

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 594 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1526-498X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9063(199712)51:4<471::aid-ps662>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

Plants provide a rich source of novel biologically active compounds. Biological and chemical screenings are complementary approaches for the rapid detection and isolation of interesting new plant constituents. Biological screening followed by activity-guided fractionation has been used successfully in our laboratories for the discovery of antifungal, larvicidal and molluscicidal compounds. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to UV spectroscopy (LC/UV), mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (LC/ NMR) has proved to be highly efficient for the chemical screening of crude plant extracts. In particular LC/MS and LC/MS/MS used with di †erent ionisation techniques such as thermospray (TSP), continuous Ñow-FAB (CF-FAB) and electrospray (ES) have proved to be very efficient for the early recognition of molluscicidal saponins in Swartzia madagascariensis and Phytolacca dodecandra. The combination of LC/UV/NMR/MS was of great value for the investigation of polyphenols and bitter principles in Gentianaceae species. Among other examples, LC/NMR analysis of the antifungal crude extract of the African plant Swertia calycina is presented.