Biological activities of a new compound isolated from the aerial parts of Vitex agnus castus L.

A new compound trivially named vitexcarpan was isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of Vitex agnus castus. The structure of compound was elucidated with the help of spectroscopic techniques: 13C NMR, 1H NMR, heteronuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC), heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC), nuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY) and correlation spectroscopy (COSY). The isolated compound was screened for possible urease, chymotrypsin and anti-inflammatory activities. The results showed that the compound possess moderate inhibitory activity against urease (43.3 %) and chymotrypsin (39.8 %) enzymes. Vitexcarpan also showed moderate (48 %) in vitro antiinflammatory activity using activated human neutrophils.Keywords: Vitex agnus castus, vitexcarpan urease, chymotrypsin, anti-inflammator