Chemical components of different parts of Strychnos ligustrina, a medicinal plant from Indonesia

Abstract

Strychnos ligustrina Blume is one of the potential plants for medicine that has been used by the local community in Indonesia for traditional medicine. Some studies showed that S. ligustrina parts had different activities, such as antimalarial, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. Triterpenoids, phenolics, tannins, alkaloids, and flavonoids were detected in this species. Different plant parts and grow sites may affect the composition of chemical components. Therefore, the present study investigated the chemical components in different parts of S. ligustrina from some grow sites. The chemical components of different plant parts were analyzed by GC-MS and showed 51 compounds in total. The major constituents identified as mome inositol, heptadecene-(8)-carbonic acid-(1), palmitic acid, quinic acid, and stearic acid. The main active constituent of the antimalarial drug, strychnine, was also detected in this study. The PCA and cluster analysis of chemical components resulted in distinguished plant parts into three groups, whereas had shown no difference among the sites. In addition, the crucial compounds of this species that potential for antimalarial, strychnine, are only found in the leaf and stem. It has been shown that the leaf and stem are potential plant parts for the antimalarial agent.