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Planta Med 1998; 64(1): 2-4
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-957354
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Antimycobacterial Activity of (E)-Phytol and Derivatives: A Preliminary Structure-Activity Study

Mohamed S. Rajab1 , Charles L. Cantrell2 , Scott G. Franzblau3 , Nikolaus H. Fischer2
  • 1Department of Chemistry, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
  • 2Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
  • 3GWL Hansen's Disease Center, P.O. Box 25072, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
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Publication History

1997

1997

Publication Date:
04 January 2007 (online)

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Abstract

The crude methanol extract of the Kenyan shrub Leucas volkensii Gürke (Labiatae) displayed in a radiorespirometric bioassay antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the crude extract led to the identification of (E)-phytol as the principal active component with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2 µg/ml, a value also observed for (3R,S,7/R,11R)-phytanol, (Z)-phytol, and a commercially available 2:1 mixture of (E)- and (Z)-phytol. The derivatives (E)-phytol acetate, a mixture of the (2S, 3S)- and (2R,3R)-isomers of (E)-phytol epoxide and (3R,S,7R,11R)-phytanic acid displayed lower activities with MICs of 8, 16, and >128 µg/ml, respectively. Geraniol and farnesol, displayed MICs of 64 and 8 µg/ml, respectively. The activities of (E)-phytol, (Z)-phytol and (3R,S,7R,11R)-phytanol were found to be in the same range as ethambutol, a clinically useful drug with an MIC in the range 0.95-3.8 µg/ml.

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