ABSTRACT The antimicrobial potential of extracts of bark and leaves of Cassia bakeriana Craib, Fabaceae, against aerobic and anaerobic oral bacteria was evaluated by the microdilution broth method. For crude ethanol extracts and organic fractions tested, the bark dichloromethane phase showed a significant antibacterial effect, with MIC values ranging from 12.5 to 100 µg/ml for most of the microorganisms tested. Thus, a bioassay-guided fractionation of this fraction was performed. This fractionation led to isolation of the 1,8-dihydroxy-anthraquinone-3-carboxylic acid, also known as cassic acid or rhein. It is the first time that this bioactive anthraquinone has been isolated from this plant. Rhein exhibited good selectivity and high activity against anaerobic microorganisms, with MIC values ranging between 3.12 µg/ml (11.0 µM) and 25 µg/ml (88.0 µM). These results were considered very promising since the most active samples and rhein showed greater selectivity against oral microorganisms than toxicity to Vero cells.

Uma amostra da madeira de aroeira preta (Astronium urundeuva) moída em moinho de bolas foi extraída, sucessivamente, com benzeno, benzeno:etanol (2:1, vv-1), clorofórmio e água num soxhlet. A madeira extraída foi secada ao ar livre resultando o resíduo A que, em seguida, foi extraído com acetona:água (9:1, vv-1), também num soxhlet. Do extrato resultante foi obtida a lignina de madeira moída (MWL). Não considerando a MWL, a soma de todos os extratos alcançou 18,19% da madeira seca. O conteúdo em lignina de Klason de A e o conteúdo de grupos metoxila da MWL foram 23,84% e 19,00%, respectivamente. Outra amostra de A apresentou conteúdos em polissacarídeos de difícil e fácil hidrólise de 34,86% e 18,81%, respectivamente. Uma Segunda amostra de madeira moída foi submetida a uma extração única com metanol, à temperatura ambiente, fornecendo o extrato metanólico B (23,85% da madeira seca). Espectros de RMN do 13C nas fases líquida e sólida indicaram que B está constituído fundamentalmente por proantocianidinas dos tipos profisetinidina e prorobinetinidina.

An Astronium urundeuva ball-milled wood sample was successively extracted with benzene, benzene-ethanol (2:1, v/v-1), chloroform, and water in a soxhlet apparatus. The extracted wood was air-dried giving the residue A that was then treated with ketone-water (9:1), in a soxhlet apparatus. From the ketone-water extract was precipitated the milled wood lignin (MWL). With exception of MWL, the extract contents summed up 18.19% (o.d.w.). The Klason lignin content of A and the methoxyl content of the MWL were 23.84% and 19.00%, respectively. Another sample of A gave hardly and easily hydrolysable polysaccharide contents of 34.86% and 18.81%, respectively. A second sample of ball-milled wood was submitted to a single extraction with methanol, at room temperature, affording the methanol extract B (23.85% o.d.w.). Liquid and solid state 13C-NMR spectroscopies indicated that B is mainly constituted by proanthocyanidins of profisetinidin and prorobinetidin types.