Chemical constituents and antioxidant activity of Mallotus roxburghianus leaves.

Mallotus roxburghianus is used in the traditional medicine in North-Eastern India, but previously no work has been done on the identification of bioactive compounds. Two new compounds, 3-(1-C-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-2,6-dihydroxy-5-methoxybenzoic acid (6) and 2,4,8,9,10-pentahydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyanthracene-6-O-beta-D-rhamnopyranoside (7) together with beta-sitosterol (1), stigmasterol (2), betulinic acid (3), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4), beta-sitosterol-beta-D-glucoside (5), and bergenin (8) were isolated and identified from the leaves of M. roxburghianus. The chloroform soluble portion of the alcoholic extract of leaf, and compounds 3, 6, 7, and 8 exhibited encouraging antioxidant activities.