Summary: | Plants have always been a common source of medicaments, either in the form of traditional preparations or as pure active principles. Polyalthia belong to the Annonaceae family and are a type of evergreen trees distributed across many tropical and subtropical regions. Polyalthia stenopetala is locally used to treat rheumatic fever and diarrhea. Herein, we report the phytochemical composition and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity of Polyalthia stenopetala. Fractionation and purification of the stem bark extract of P. stenopetala led to isolation and identification of laurotetanine (1), N-methyllaurotetanine (2), reticuline (3), liriodenine (4), yangambin (5), syringaresinol (6), vanillic acid (7), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (8), cinnamic acid (9), and syringic acid (10). Structures of these ten compounds were elucidated using different spectral analyses and their comparison with previously reported data. All isolated compounds were found to inhibit AChE (inhibition of 40.2 to 80.6%). Our study highlights the potential of Polyalthia species as phytomedicinal sources. © 2023 Assiut University. All rights reserved.
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