Identification of phytochemical compounds in Calophyllum inophyllum leaves

In Vivo Pharmacodynamics of Calophyllum soulattri as Antiobesity with In Silico Molecular Docking and ADME/Pharmacokinetic Prediction Studies

This study aims to determine the antiobesity activity of Calophyllum soulattri leaves extract (CSLE) on high fat diet-fed rats (HFD) and to predict the molecular docking and pharmacokinetics of selected compounds of Calophyllum soulattri to fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO). Daily body weight, organ, carcass fat (renal and anal), body mass index, total cholesterol, and total triglyceride levels were observed after CSLE was given orally for 50 days. Furthermore, body mass index of a CSLE dose of 50 mg/kgbw, 100 mg/kgbw and orlistat (120 mg/kgbw) group are 0.68, 0.57 and 0.52, respectively. The total body weight of the CLSE dose of 100 mg/kgbw group showed the lowest percentage change, followed by a CLSE dose of 50 mg/kgbw compared to the normal and positive control group. The carcass fat index of CSLE dose of 100 mg/kgbw was not significantly different from orlistat, which was in line with its total cholesterol level and triglyceride (p < 0.05). The binding affinity of selected compounds from Calophyllum soulattri (friedelin, caloxanthone B, macluraxanthone, stigmasterol, trapezifolixanthone, dombakinaxanthone, and brasixanthone B) to FTO are –8.27, –9.74, –8.48, –9.34, –8.85, –8.68 and –9.39 kcal/mol, which are better than that of orlistat at –4.80 kcal/mol. The molecular dynamics simulation showed that the interaction between Caloxanthone B compounds and obesity receptors was relatively stable. Lipinski’s rule determined the absorption percentage of all compounds above 90% with good drug-likeness. The results showed the potential of CSLE as an antiobesity drug candidate.

Potential for Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy toward predicting antioxidant and phenolic contents in powdered plant matrices

Mid-infrared spectroscopy is finding an increasing number of applications; however, many of its potential uses remain unexplored. In this study, mid-infrared spectroscopy is applied to predict total antioxidant capacity and phenolic contents of powdered matrices of 14 diverse plant species. In all instances, the optimum prediction models were found using standard normal variate smoothing as a pre-processing method. The results show high correlation between the FTIR predicted and chemically determined values, namely R² values of 0.962 for total phenolics, 0.829 for cupric reducing antioxidant potential (CUPRAC) and 0.911 for ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP). The relative RMSE found for validation indicated that total phenolic content could be predicted with higher accuracy than CUPRAC or FRAP. This pilot study highlights the promise of this technology for plant breeders and a range of industries where rapid screening of many samples for antioxidant and/or phenolic content is envisaged.

Isolation and identification of cholestane and dihydropyrene from Calophyllum inophyllum

The highest population of Calophyllum inophyllum is in Indonesia. One of the bioactive compound contained in C. inophyllum leave is cholestane. The extraction method was employed to obtain crude extract from these leaves. It was followed by identification of the bioactive compounds. The purpose of this research was to develop a process for isolating and identifying cholestane and dihydropyrene from methanolic extract of C. inophyllum leaves in high yield and purity. The effect of crude extract to non-polar solvent mass ratio and non-polar solvent types on the separation of the bioactive compounds were also systematically investigated. New compounds (trans-2-[2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-10b,10c-dimethyl-10b, 10c-dihydropyrene and anti-4-aza-B-homo-5.alpha-cholestane-3-one) were also identified in C. inophyllum leaves. The successful separation was obtained by employing CS₂ as the solvent and crude extract to CS₂ mass ratio of 1/10 (g/g).