PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

**Abstract**
The antiplasmodium assay-guided investigation of the roots, stem bark, and leaves ofPersea americanaMill. led to the isolation of a new fatty alcohol, perseatriol (1), along with six known compounds (2–7). Their structures were elucidated based on the analysis of their NMR and MS data. All crude extracts and fractions exhibited good antiplasmodial activity onPlasmoduim falciparum3D7 with IC₅₀values ranging from 0.76 to 10.5 μg/mL; they also displayed cytotoxicity against HeLa cells with low selectivity indexes (SIs). A preliminaryPlasmodiumlactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) assay was also performed on the isolated compounds. 9,9′-Di-O-feruloyl-5,5′-dimethoxysecoisolariciresinol (4) turned out to be non-toxic and displayed the best activities onP. falciparumwith an IC₅₀value of 0.05 μM, comparable to the reference drug chloroquine with an IC₅₀value of 0.03 μM. Furthermore, besides compound4, this work reports the first isolation of lutein (2) and scopoletin (3) fromP. americana. The crude extracts of roots, stem bark, and leaves ofP. americana, their fractions and compounds completely suppressed the growth ofP. falciparum. The observed activity supports the use ofP. americanain folk medicine for the treatment of malaria.