The phytochemical constituents of the ethyl acetate extract of the Schefflera elliptica leaves

Abstract

Schefflera elliptica belonging to the Araliaceae family, is a shrub or small tree widely grown in many places in Vietnam. This plant is used in traditional Vietnamese medicine for the treatment of pain in tendons and bones, rheumatism, cancer, and to stimulate digestion. To the best of our knowledge, the phytochemical compositions and biological activities of this species have not been investigated. This is the first time a chemical investigation of S. elliptica has been conducted. This study contributes to the acknowledgment of the phytochemical profile and provides a foundation for further biological investigations. The leaves of S. elliptica were dried, powdered, and extracted in ethanol 96o at room temperature to provide the crude extract. The crude extract was then subjected to liquid-liquid separation with n-hexane and EtOAc, to obtain the n-hexane, ethyl acetate extracts. From the ethyl acetate extract of the leaves of S. elliptica, two phytosphingolipids, 1-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S,3S,4R,9Z)-2-[(2R)-2-hydroxytetracosanoylamino]-octadec-9-en-1,3,4-triol (1), and 1-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S,3S,4R,9E)-2-[(2R)-2-hydroxyhexadecanoylamino]-octadec-9-en-1,3,4-triol (2), along with three flavonoids, kaempferol (3), quercetin (4), and astragalin (5) were isolated by various chromatographic column techniques over normal-phase and/or reverse-phase silica gel, and confirmed by thin layer chromatography. The chemical structures of all separated substances were clearly elucidated using High Resolution Mass spectrometry with the ElectroSpray Ionization source, such as HR-ESI-MS, and HR-ESI-MS/MS techniques, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy 1D & 2D NMR data, and further comparison to those database of the published literatures. For the first time, all purified compounds were identified from this species, and compounds (1, 2) were determined to be from the Schefflera genus.