Isolation and characterization of β-sitosterol, oleanolic, 19- dehyroursolic and yarumic acids, from <i>Plectranthus esculentus</i> leaves and tubers

Abstract

Plectranthus esculentus N.E.Br. (family Lamiaceae) also known as Livingstone potato (vat or rizga in Nigeria), is a dicotyledonous perennial shrub growing up to 2 m tall. While it is cultivated mainly for its edible tubers, the plant is potentially valuable as phytomedicine. Three varieties (vat-long’at, vat-riyom and vat-bebot) are well known among the Berom of Plateau State, Nigeria. The vat-bebot variety (which showed good promise in bioactivity studies) was used in this study. The leaves and tubers were extracted successively with hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and water. Fractionation of the active ethyl acetate extracts was carried out using open column and preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography (prep HPLC). This led to the isolation of β-sitosterol and oleanolic acid from the leaves; while 19-dehydroursolic acid and yarumic acid, as well as β-sitosterol were isolated from the tubers. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electron Impact Mass Spectroscopy (EIMS) were used to characterize isolated compounds. Comparing acquired spectral data of isolated compounds with those from literature helped to confirm the identity of the compounds. The isolation and characterisation of these compounds, from Plecthranthus esculentus, have not been hitherto reported in literature.