Isolation, purification and partial characterization of a glycoside from the Jamaican ball moss plant (Tillandsia recurvata L.)

Henry I. C. Lowe, Charah T. Watson, Simone Badal, Ngeh J. Toyang, Joseph Bryant

Bio-Tech R & D Institute, Kingston, Jamaica.
Institute of Human Virology, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA.
Natural Products Institute, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

DOI: 10.4236/abc.2012.23035                

Abstract

Initial isolation and characterization screens have been carried out on the Jamaican ball moss (Tillandsia recurvata L.) plant producing a novel complex gly-cosidic compound. This complex glycoside may be responsible for the promising anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties of this ball moss plant. A combination of supercritical fluid processing and chromatographic purification was used to produce the isolate. LC-MS analysis showed the presence of a compound with a molecular weight of ~800 and mass spectral (MS-MS and MS-MS-MS) data indicate that this compound may be a glycoside with a molecular mass of 1601.1 Da (negative ionization mode) and possibly contain up to two sialic acids, based on the doubly-charged state of the molecule at neutral pH conditions. 2D-TOCSY NMR spectrum lends evidence to the presence of at least one likely amide to aliphatic proton correlation, indicating the presence of a sialic acid moiety. The main structure of this therapeutic compound appears similar to a soyasaponin.

Keywords

Jamaican Ball Moss;Tillandsia recurvata; Anti-Cancer; Anti-Inflammatory; LC-MS, High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry; Total Correlation Spectroscopy (TOCSY)

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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