Xanthones and an anthraquinone from stem bark and roots of Cratoxylum arborescens

Abstract

Phytochemical studies were conducted on the stem bark and roots of Cratoxylum arborescens that has been collected from Post Brooke, Gua Musang, Kelantan, Malaysia. Cratoxylum arborescens has orange latex like iodin. The orange latex from stem bark could be found because of existing xanthones compounds. Extraction of the stem bark using organic solvents followed by extensive purification using standard procedure of purification yielded three known xanthones, pruniflorone H (1), cochinchinone C (2) and macluraxanthone (3). Employing the same procedure, an anthraquinone, vismiaquinone (4) was isolated from the roots of the plants. These four compounds were characterized by NMR spectral data using 1D and 2D-techniques and comparison with the literature data. The result of this studies suggested that xanthones are the main compounds of Cratoxylum.