Isolation of an isoflavonoid and a terpenoid from the heartwood of Baphia nitida Lodd. (camwood)

Chromatographic separation of methanolic extract of Baphia nitida heartwood gave two crystalline solids characterized as 3,9-dimethoxy-6aR,11aR-dihydro-6H-benzofuro(3,2-C)[1]benzopyran (also known as homopterocarpin) with molecular formula C 17 H 16 O 4 (1.57% yield) and 2,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde C 9 H 10 O 3 (2.27% yield). Each of the isolated compounds showed a single spot on developed thin layer chromatographic plate under ultra-violet light (254 nm) and spray reagent (10% sulfuric acid in methanol solution). Structural elucidation was achieved using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, one and two-dimension nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer-edited-heteronuclear single quantum coherence (DEPT-ed-HSQC) was also a useful tool that aided the characterization of the two secondary metabolites isolated from Baphia nitida heartwood.