Antileishmanial activity evaluation of adunchalcone, a new prenylated dihydrochalcone from Piper aduncum L.

Bioactivity-guided fractionation of EtOH extract from the leaves of Piper aduncum L. (Piperaceae) afforded a new dihydrochalcone, named adunchalcone. Its structure was elucidated on the basis of their spectroscopic data, primarily NMR and MS. Adunchalcone was evaluated against promastigote forms of Leishmania (L.) amazonensis, L. (V.) braziliensis, L. (V.) shawi, and L. (L.) chagasi and displayed 50% effective concentrations (EC50) of 11.03, 26.70, and 11.26 μM, as well as selective indexes of 4.86, 2.01, 4.76 and 0.50, respectively. This compound was also tested against intracellular forms of L. (L.) amazonensis, displaying weak activity, in comparison to reference drug amphotericin B. However, despite reduced effect of adunchalcone against amastigotes of L. (L.) amazonensis, this work opens the perspective to use this particular molecule as a scaffold for the design of novel and selective drug candidates for neglected diseases, mainly leishmaniasis.