Isolation, characterization and quantification of bioactive dibenzylbutyrolactone lignan (-)-cubebin from fruits of Piper cubeba L.f.

Abstract

The fruits of Piper cubeba L.f. have significance in traditional medicine (Ayurveda) and reports say that its activity is due to major lignan (-)-cubebin, which is a bioactive dibenzylbutyrolactone lignan and possess analgesic, anti-histaminic, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. Column chromatography is mostly used for the isolation of lignans from plant sources which is laborous and time consuming process. Therefore, the purpose of this research work is to develop simple and convenient method for isolation of (-)-cubebin from fruits of P cubeba L.f. The isolated compound was characterised by thin-layer chromatography (TLC), UV/visible spectroscopy (UV), infrared spectroscopy (IR), mass spectroscopy (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectral analysis (NMR). Further high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to quantify (-)-cubebin in chloroform extract of the fruits.