Isolation and Characterization of Terpenoid Derivatives from the Wood of Shorea beccariana

Abstract

The genus Shorea, in the Dipterocarpaceae family, is known for its abundance of phytochemical constituents with various bioactivities. These trees, which are predominantly reported as endangered, are primarily found in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, specifically in Indonesia and Malaysia. This study aims to isolate phytochemical constituents from the wood of S. beccariana. The isolation process involved extraction with methanol and partitioning with n-hexane and ethyl acetate to obtain the n-hexane and ethyl acetate extract, respectively. Further separation of the extracts using vacuum liquid chromatography and gravity column chromatography led to the isolation of three pure terpenoid compounds: Asiatic acid, Oleanolic acid, and Lup-20 (29)-en-3-one. These compounds were identified using various spectroscopic techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, which were compared with references. The isolated compounds from this plant are being reported for the first time.