Determination and Isolation of Valuable Bioactive Compound (lupeol) from Portulacaria afra Jacq.

Abstract

Portulacaria afra is a small succulent tree, previously belonging to the Portulacaceae family, but with further studies, the plant transferred to the Didieracea family. P. afra was used as an ornamental, vegetable, and ethnomedicinal plant. Uses of the plant by rural South Africans to treat chronic skin conditions and rashes, alleviate exhaustion, and aid in treating TB and diarrhea have been documented in folklore. According to pharmaceutical research, plant extracts offer a wide range of remedial outcomes, such as antidiabetic, antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory. The study aims to determine some bioactive constituents responsible for pharmacological activities and traditional usefulness. Thinlayer chromatography (TLC) is used for detecting lupeol by specific reagents; a p-anisaldehyde sulfuric acid reagent and 10% methanolic sulfuric acid. And high-performance liquid chromatography was used to detect pentacyclic triterpenoids (lupeol) in the n-hexane. The lupeol was isolated by preparative layer chromatography (PLC). Testing the efficacy of the separation method, the isolated compounds have been identified and characterized by different chromatographic and chemical analyses (TLC, ATR-FTIR, LC-CMS-APCI+, and1H-NMR).