A Chemical Foundation for Native American Use of Cercis canadensis and Zanthoxylum clava-herculis

Abstract

This thesis project studied the bark of North American plants, Cercis canadensis and Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, plants used medicinally by the Cherokee Indians. The C. canadensis bark was analyzed through Soxhlet extraction, column chromatography, and thin layer chromatography to isolate its nonvolatile components. Collection and analysis of NMR experiments- proton, carbon, HSQC, HMBC, and COSY, led to identification of the compound lupeol. The C. canadensis and Z. clava-herculis bark essential oil was collected with Likens-Nickerson hydrodistillation and analyzed through GC-MS and chiral GC-MS. Major components of the C. canadensis bark oil include 1-hexanol, hexanoic acid, (2E)-hexenoic acid, oleic acid amide, and 1-docosanal. Major components of the Z. clava-herculis bark oil were sabinene, limonene, γ-terpinene, and terpinen-4-ol. The compounds identified have various reported bioactivities in the literature suggesting a possible reason for their medicinal use by the Cherokee.