Isolation and Chemical Characterization of Antifungal, Antioxidant, and Anti‐Inflammatory Compounds from Centrosema coriaceum using GC/MS, UFLC‐QTOF‐MS, and FACE

In recent years, natural products with biological activities have been increasingly researched. The elucidation of phytoconstituents is necessary for the development of drugs as a natural alternative for the treatment of various diseases. The work aimed to evaluate in vitro and in silico bioactivities of hexane (CCHE) and methanol (CCME) fractions of ethanolic extract from Centrosema coriaceum Benth (Fabaceae) leaves and elucidate their phytoconstituents. CCHE and CCME showed antifungal activity for Candida glabrata (MIC of 1000 μg/mL) with fungistatic effect and action in cell envelope by sorbitol and ergosterol assays. CCHE and CCME presented promising antioxidant activity against the DPPH radical with IC50 of 13.61±0.50 and 6.31±0.40 μg/mL, respectively, and relative antioxidant activity (RAA%) of 45.77±3.61/ 28.53±2.25 % for CCHE and 82.18±2.25/51.99±3.23 % for CCME when compared to rutin and quercetin, respectively. Moreover, these fractions demonstrated promising results for the inhibition of lipid peroxidation by β‐carotene/linoleic acid assay. For anti‐inflammatory and cytotoxicity activities, CCHE and CCME significantly inhibited the production of nitric oxide and TNF‐α, without toxicity on murine intraperitoneal macrophages, respectively. Esters, alkanes, steroids, tocopherols, and terpenes were identified in CCHE by GC/MS. Flavonoids, phenolic acids, and disaccharides were detected in CCME by UFLC‐QTOF‐MS and FACE. Furthermore, rutin was purified from CCME. In silico predictions evidenced that compounds present in both fractions have high affinity to the fungal membrane besides antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory activities. Based on these observations, CCHE and CCME have a noteworthy potential for the design of novel antifungal and anti‐inflammatory agents that should be explored in future studies.