Estudo fitoquímico e biológico de Unonopsis guatterioides e Unonopsis duckei

Abstract

The neotropical genus Unonopsis, one among the 130 genera belonging to the Annonaceae family, has been a promising source of aporphine alkaloids and derivatives. The antiprotozoal activity of this class of substances, mainly anti-leishmania activity, has aroused the interest of several research groups around the world. In the present work were carried out the analysis from alkaloidal fractions of the leaves, twigs and barks of the trunk from Unonopsis duckei and Unonopsis guatterioides by mass spectrometry, doing an investigation in the alkaloid profile in order to obtain promising structures with activity against Leishmania. The analysis of MSn and LC/APCI/MS of the alkaloidal fractions of U. guatterioides confirmed the presence of some alkaloids previously reported in the literature such as anonaine, asimilobine, liriodenine and lysicamine. It was possible identify the nornuciferine alkaloid which was characterized for the first time in the Unonopsis genus, and suggest the presence of azafluorenone type alkaloid. The spectrometric investigation of U. duckei revealed the presence of aporphine and oxoaporphine alkaloids which were already reported in this genus, as well as guided the isolation of the proaporphine alkaloid glaziovine and the mixture of glaucine and norglaucine alkaloids. These compounds are inedit in the Unonopsis genus. The triterpene polycarpol was isolated from both species, observed U. duckei like the best yield. In the phytochemical investigation of the apolar extracts of U. guatterioides was possible to identify a mixture of sitosterol/stigmasterol steroids. The biological analyses of U. duckei and U. guatterioides alkaloidal fractions showed that four of them were considered highly active, one of them was moderatly active and only one was not showed active against Leishmania amazonensis. Among the substances evaluated, the alkaloid glaziovine showed the most effective activity against Leishmania amazonensis.