Plants long employed in traditional medicine remain promising yet underexplored sources of antioxidant compounds. Montanoa bipinnatifida C. Koch, native to southern Mexico, is one such species with a largely uncharacterized chemical profile. In this study, a hydroethanolic of Montanoa bipinnatifida C. Koch leaf extract (MB-LE) was prepared via maceration with 70% ethanol, yielding 18% (w/w), and subsequently analyzed using spectroscopic and metabolomic approaches. UV–Vis and FTIR spectra revealed a chemically diverse matrix enriched in phenolic and nitrogen-containing constituents. High-resolution ESI-FT-ICR-MS profiling enabled the tentative identification of structurally varied metabolites, including alkaloids, saponins, glycosides, coumarins, and small peptides, while GC–MS analysis further indicated the presence of terpenoids and lipid-related compounds. These findings highlight a previously unrecognized chemical complexity in these species. Functionally, MB-LE exhibited moderate antioxidant activity in the DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assays (IC50 = 56.21 ± 0.67 µg/mL, 724.82 ± 27.49 µmol TE/g extract, and 614.90 ± 42.63 µmol TE/g extract, respectively), while the extract’s high phenolic content (333.31 ± 11.93 mg GAE/g extract) suggests a central role of these compounds in its observed activity. Overall, this work positions M. bipinnatifida as a novel source of bioactive metabolites and establishes a foundation for future studies focused on its structural elucidation and biological validation.
Gallegos-Hernández et al. (Fri,) studied this question.