Research Article
Antioxidants from the bark of Burkea africana, an African medicinal plant
Elin Mathisen,
Drissa Diallo, Øyvind M. Andersen,
Karl Egil Malterud,
Elin Mathisen
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Oslo, Norway
Search for more papers by this authorØyvind M. Andersen
Department of Chemistry, The University of Bergen, Norway
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Karl Egil Malterud
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Oslo, Norway
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1068 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, NorwaySearch for more papers by this authorElin Mathisen,
Drissa Diallo, Øyvind M. Andersen,
Karl Egil Malterud,
Elin Mathisen
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Oslo, Norway
Search for more papers by this authorØyvind M. Andersen
Department of Chemistry, The University of Bergen, Norway
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Karl Egil Malterud
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Oslo, Norway
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, The University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1068 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, NorwaySearch for more papers by this authorAbstract
The bark of the tree Burkea africana is used medicinally in large areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The constituents responsible for its putative activity are not well known. We have investigated the bark of B. africana for antioxidant and radical scavenging activity. A hydroethanol bark extract showed high activity, and most of this activity was located in semipolar fractions of the extract. From chromatographic purification and spectroscopical structure studies, we conclude that the active constituents are proanthocyanidins. Two major components appear to be fisetinidol-(4α- → 8)-catechin 3-gallate and bis-fisetinidol-(4α- → 6, 4α- → 8)-catechin 3-gallate. The latter compound is a new natural product. Smaller amounts of monomeric flavan-3-ols (catechin, epicatechin and fisetinidol) were also found. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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