Isolation of jacaranone, a sedative constituent extracted from the flowers of the Mexican tree Ternstroemia pringlei.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Ternstroemia pringlei represents one of the most widely employed and commercially exploited medicinal plant in Mexico, used popularly as a tranquilizer and for the treatment of insomnia.

Aim Of The Study: To investigate the sedative constituents of the plant through a bio-guided fractionation of extracts derived from calyx and fruits.

Materials And Methods: Crude extracts with different polarities (CHCl(3), AcOEt, MeOH, aqueous) were prepared and subjected to chromatographic fractionation, leading to the isolation of the sedative compound (1) from the MeOH crude extract.