Isolation and Characterisation of naphthoquinones from the traditional medicinal plant –Lithospermum viridiflorum Roxb

Robert Lotha, Rishikesan Rathn

Abstract

Four naphthoquinones, namely - deoxy shikonin, acetyl shikonin, β, β-dimethylacrylshikonin and isobutyl shikoninhave been isolated from the hexane extract of the root-bark of the traditional medicinal plant Lithospermum viridiflorum. The structures of the compounds were characterized by using Mass, Proton and 13C-NMR respectively.