ESTUDO FITOQUÍMICO de Helicteres velutina K. SCHUM (STERCULIACEAE): UMA BUSCA POR SUBSTÂNCIA ATIVAS NO CONTROLE DO AEDES AEGYPTI L.

Abstract

Plants have been a fundamental source of resources for humans and their great application is due the great diversity of molecules produced by cellular metabolism and by the ability to interact in several biological systems. Phytochemistry is a subarea of the Natural Products Chemistry that aims to isolate and identify plant metabolites through analytical methods. Brazil is a privileged country in research on natural product, due its great biodiversity. Dengue is a disease caused by a vírus transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquito as well as Chikungunya and Zyka. These diseases cause fever, pain in the body, in the joints, vomiting, complications in fetal formation and can lead to death. There are reports in the literature of plants substances with larvicidal and insecticide activity that can be used against the mosquito. Based on these informations, the objective of this work to carry out a phytochemical study on Helicteres velutina, to evaluate, its phenolic content, the main secondary metabolites that are present in its extract, its antioxidant potential and its possible larvicidal activity. To accomplish our objectives, spectroscopic, spectrophotometric and chromatographic methods were used. As the result it was possible to identify the presence of steroids, triterpenes, flavonoids and tannins in its extract. The phenolic content was found as 26.35 mg EAG/g of extract and it was possible to isolate a flavonoid compound called tiliroside. The crude ethanolic extract of Helicteres velutina was evaluated as larvicidal against larvae of Aedes aegypti, showing great result that indicates its potential use to control the proliferation of the mosquito. This study contributed to the increase of the knowledge about the secondary metabolites produced by the species, also contributing to chemotaxonomy of the family Sterculiaceae.