Medicinal & Aromatic Plants
Open Access

Abstract

Isolation, Characterisation and Antifungal Activity of β-Lapachone from Tecomaria capensis (Thunb.) Spach Leaves

Karthikeyan R, Sai Koushik O and Kumar PV

β-Lapachone (3, 4-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-2H-naphthol [1,2-b] pyran-5,6-dione), was originally isolated from the lapacho tree (Tabebuia avellanedae) of South America. It is a lipophilic ortho-naphthoquinone. β-Lapachone has antimicrobial, antifungal, antiviral antitumor and anti-trypanosomal activities. In a number of tumors (e.g., breast, colon, lung, and pancreatic cancers) with high NAD (P) H expression levels of: quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1), β-lapachone activates a novel apoptotic response. β-Lapachoneis a major constituent of the species Tecomaria capensis (Thunb.) Spach. On silica gel GF254 TLC plates and the chromate plate analytical thin layer chromatography was accomplished. It was developed withToluene: Ethyl acetate (7:3 v/v) as mobile phase. In this study isolation of β-Lapachone was achieved by preparative TLC. The compound thus isolated was characterised by Mass, H1 NMR and FT-IR spectral analysis. Mass spectral data shows molecular ion peak of m/z=242. Antifungal activity was measured against Candida albicans and Aspergillus nigrus fromethyl acetate extracts of selected species.