ABSTRACT The species Croton elegans Kunth, belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae and known with the common name “mosquera”, is a native medicinal plant of Ecuador. Due to its medical applications, we are interested in secondary metabolite composition. After extraction with hexane and preparation of the alkaloid extract, preparative chromatographic fractionation in both normal and direct phase was performed. 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HSQC and HMBC experiments, together with polarimetric measurements, were conducted in order to characterize the purified compunds. Two triterpene metabolites (friedelin and cycloeucalenol) and two morphinan alkaloids ((+)-pallidine and (+)-O-methylpallidine) were obtained in a pure form. This work represents the first report on the phytochemistry of C. elegans and probably the second publication on the natural (+)-pallidine alkaloid.

The MeOH extract of Piper ecuadorense Sodiro, Piperaceae, was chosen for metabolite isolation and elucidation due to the strong antifungal activity exhibited, measured by means of the broth microdilution method. Two known flavonoids: pinostrobin (1) and pinocembrin (2) were isolated from 4.16 g. of dichloromethane extract by column chromatography, using a gradient of hexane/EtOAc. A total of 20 mg of 1 were obtained from the fraction eluted with hexane-EtOAc 95:5 v/v, and 100 mg of 2 were obtained from the fraction eluted with hexane-EtOAc 85:15 v/v. The MIC values of the MeOH extract was 31.25 µg/mL for Trichophyton mentagrophytes ATCC® 28185 and 62.5 µg/mL for Trichophyton rubrum ATCC® 28188. The MIC value of pinocembrin was 125 µg/mL for Trichophyton mentagrophytes ATCC® 28185 and Trichophyton rubrum ATCC® 28188. Pinostrobin in antifungal test was not active against fungi tested.