Author(s)

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.

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.

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

Lowe, H. , Watson, C. , Badal, S. , Toyang, N. and Bryant, J. (2012) Isolation, purification and partial characterization of a glycoside from the Jamaican ball moss plant (Tillandsia recurvata L.). Advances in Biological Chemistry, 2, 274-282. doi: 10.4236/abc.2012.23035.