Obtaining and purification of ± and ß-amyrin from leaves Uvaia (Eugenia pyriformis Cambess)

Abstract

The Eugenia pyriformis Cambess (Uvaia) is a tropical arboreal species from Brazil and typical from the Atlantic Forest, with fewer literature reports related to extraction processes of bioactive compounds from the vegetal parts of the plant. The ± and ²-amyrin compounds are pentacyclic triterpenes with several therapeutic potencials studied in the last years, such as: gastric protection, antidepressant, analgesic, hypocholesterolemic, antiplatelet and anti-inflammatory. In this doctorate project, a deeper investigation of this plant potencial will be carried out, considering the promising results obtained from previous studies performed by the participant researchers of this proposal. Therefore, the main goal of this project is to obtain vegetal extracts rich in ± e ²-amyrin from various extraction processes, as well as study its purification processes. The extracts will be obtained from the following methods: solvent extraction by maceration, extraction with supercritical CO2 (carbon dioxide), supercritical CO2 with cosolvent, ultrasound assisted extraction and pressurized liquid extraction. It is intended to evaluate the effect of the extraction methods and the variation of the process conditions on the extracts yield and on their chemical compositions. It is also intended to study the purification methods by chromatography to obtain an extract with high purity levels of ± and ²-amyrin, with antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials.