Antimalarial natural products from Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora

Abstract

As part of a program aimed at identifying antimalarial natural products, we screened traditional Chinese herbs that are alleged to have antimalarial activity and are used in primary health care. This study used selected herb extracts in a biological assay against Plasmodium falciparum. The crude CH2Cl2 and MeOH extract of the rhizome Picrohiza scrophulariiflora Pennell shows high potency and has been investigated in detail employing the same bioassay to guide the isolation. Chemical investigation of the activity fractions of P. scrophulariiflora have lead to the isolation of 12 natural products, two of them are novel compounds. The structures of the 12 compounds have been fully characterized based on their NMR and MS spectroscopic data. The evaluation of their antimalarial activity is currently underway.