R. R. Aggarwal

Ficus racemosa Linn. is a moderate-sized avenue tree found throughout India either wild or cultivated for its fruits eaten by villagers. It is popular in Indigenous system of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha and Homeopathy. Two new triterpenoids of lanostene series were isolated from the roots of Ficus racemosa and their structure were determined as Lanost-20-en-3β-acetate (1) and Lanost-20-en-3β-ol (2)  on the basis of various spectral and chemical studies.

Methanolic extracts of 4 Indian medicinal plants, traditionally used in different ailments, were evaluated for antioxidant activity using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) radical scavenging assay. Among the extracts, C. lanceolatus significantly decreased the absorption at 10 µg/ml indicating that it is effective even at a very low concentration.