Extractives from eucomis montana and agapanthus inapertus.

Abstract

Two species belonging to different families were investigated, Eucomis montana from the Hyacinthaceae and Agapanthus inapertus from the Agapanthaceae. To date no previous chemical investigation on Eucomis montana has been reported. Eucomis species are routinely harvested, processed and sold for the treatment of various ailments ranging from toothache, gastro-intestinal ailments, pain-producing ailments and venereal and urinary diseases. Members of the genus have shown to contain steroidal compounds and homoisoflavonoids. In this work one nortriterpenoid, a eucosterol type derivative and eleven homoisoflavonoids belonging to four classes, the 3-benzyl-4-chromanone, the 3-benzyl-3-hydroxy-4-chromanone, the 3-benzylidenyl-4-chromanone and the scillascillin type were found in the bulbs of Eucomis montana. Agapanthus species are also used by a number of African tribes medicinally. The bulbs and rhizomes of this family have been reported to contain steroidal saponins and sapogenins. In this work the roots of Agapanthus inapertus have been investigated and a tignan precursor and a lignan have been found. Structures of the compounds isolated were determined using spectroscopic techniques.