Suggestive placement of Quassia borneensis Noot. (Simaroubaceae) as indicated by isolation of its quassinoids

Quassinoids have been reported to possess numerous biological activities such as anticancer,antimalarial and phytotoxicity. they are degraded triterpenoids which give bitterness characteristic of simaroubaceae and classified according to their basic skeletons; c18,c19,c20,c22,c25 which correspond to their particular genus quassia,brucea,soulamea,eurycoma,picrolemnia and others. quassia borneensis noot. (simaroubaceae) (qb) have not been properly placed in quassia s.l. thus created confusion. therefore,a study on qb for its chemical compounds and biological activity are appropriate for data gathering. there is positive possibility for new quassinoids with potent biological activity to be discovered,in addition to confirmation of placement in simaroubaceae. the study was accomplished by extracting the secondary metabolites from qb by soxhlet in methanol. the methanol extract was partitioned to acquire n-hexane,chloroform and aqueous extracts. these extracts underwent isolation and purification through chromatographic techniques before subjected to spectroscopic instruments for structural elucidation. preliminary findings identified five quassinoids and one canthin-6-one as glaucarubolone (1),chaparrinone (2),holacanthone (3),glaucarubinone (4),ailanthinone (5) and canthin-6-one (6) in reference to past reports. the isolation confirms qb placement in simaroubaceae,however,not in quassia section as indicated by isolated quassinoids. hence,further study would confirm its proper section in quassia. © 2015penerbit utm press. all rights reserved.