Isolation of steroids from n-hexane extract of the stems of Miliusa velutina Dun Hook. f. et. Thoms

Miliusa velutina (Dun) Hook. f. et. Thoms belongs to the Na family (Annonaceae). In folklore, M.velutina is widely used as a traditional medicine to treat inflammation, scabies, antiseptic, hemostatic, and antibacterial, in addition to being used to kill parasites and as a natural insecticide. Some research on its chemical constituents showed that there are groups of phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, acetogenin, sesquiterpenoids, and lactones along with diverse biological activities that help cure cancer, antifungal, antibacterial, antimalarial, antioxidant, antidiabetic. However, in Vietnam, there have not been many studies on M. velutina, so this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the chemical constituents of the M. velutina, somehow providing more data related to the plant. By column chromatography method with thin layer chromatography with different solvent systems from n-hexane extract, five steroids were isolated. The chemical structure of the compounds was elucidated from 1D and 2D-NMR spectroscopic data combined with literature data showing that five steroids were obtusifolione (1), β-sitosterol (2), stigmasterol (3), stigmastan-3-one (4), stigmast-4-en-3-one (5). Among them, three compounds (1), (4) and (5) are first known to exist in the M. velutina.