Phytosterols from Spondias mombin Linn with Antimycobacterial Activities.

The growing problems of tuberculosis have led to the search for new anti-Mtb agents from higher plants. The stem bark of Spondias mombin was evaluated for its in vitro activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv strain). Bioassay-guided fractionation of the methanol extract was carried out by Vacuum Liquid Chromatography (VLC) on Silica gel (230-400 mesh) and purification was done using HPLC and TLC. In vitro antimycobacterial susceptibility was performed by a fluorometric microplate alamar blue assay (MABA) and percentage mycobacterial inhibition was calculated. The structures of the isolated compounds were established by spectroscopic analysis. The active VLC fraction exhibited 91% inhibition against M. tuberculosis H37Rv at a concentration of 40 μg/mL. The HPLC fraction SMi-15 containing compounds 1 and 2 showed 92.8% inhibition against M. tuberculosis. Two new antimycobacterial phytosterols were isolated from the stem bark of S. mombin and the structures were identified as mombintane I (1) and mombintane II (2). The stem bark extractives of S. mombin contain antitubercular principles of the class phytosterol and support an important potential of triterpenoids.