Antiallergic polyphenols from Citharexylum spinosum

Three polyphenolic compounds, namely 1,3,6-tri-O-galloyl-β-D-glucopyranose (TGG) (1), methyl gallate (2) and hydroxyquinol (3) have been isolated from the aerial parts of fiddlewood (Citharexylum spinosum L.). The structures of the isolated compounds have been characterized on the basis of spectroscopic methods in addition to comparison with literature data. These compounds along with their methanol extract were tested to evaluate their anti-allergic activity through inhibition of β-hexosaminidase enzyme. It was noticed that all the tested compounds and methanol extract have good inhibition for β-hexosaminidase release without affecting the cell viability where the production of β-hexosaminidase was decreased to about 69%, 60% and 56% by compounds (1), (2) and (3), respectively. The anti-allergic activity of fiddlewood has been reported for the first time in the present report.