International Journal of
MediPharm Research

Plant recipes are classified as medicinal when the biological activities of compounds obtained from them have been scientifically established. Before now, three compounds namely, ethyl gallate, pyrogallol and D-arabino-hex-1-enitol-1, 5-anhydro-2-deoxy have been isolated from the butanol fraction of Acalypha wilkesiana var. lace-acalypha (Muell & Arg.) and their antimicrobial activities evaluated, established and documented. In this study, the ethyl acetate fraction which resulted from solvent-partitioning of the aqueous crude extract with organic solvents of increasing polarities was subjected to silica-gel column chromatography. A glucolipid designated as H-2 [light brown oil; b.p. (391-393 0C); Rf (0.19); [n]20D (1.3989)] was isolated. The structure of H-2 has been established to be ethyl ?-D-glucopyranoside by a combination of 1H NMR, 13C NMR, MS and IR spectral techniques. H-2 was remarkably bacteriostatic against B.subtilis, E.coli, K.pneumonia, Ps.aeriginosa and S. typhi. However, it recorded no activitities against S.aureus and C.albicans. H-2 and other compounds previously obtained can be used to chemotaxonomically mark this plant and hence classify it as medicinal Keywords: Ethyl acetate fraction; chromatography; glucolipid; ethyl ?-D- glucopyranoside; Acalypha wilkesiana var. lace-acalypha; medicinal.

Keywords:  Ethyl acetate fraction; chromatography; glucolipid; ethyl α-D- glucopyranoside; Acalypha wilkesiana var. lace-acalypha; medicinal.