Platypodiol a novel clerodane diterpene from Baccharis platypoda

There is an urgent need for effective leishmanicidal drugs to replace or supplement those in current use. Our group has been bioprospecting many Brazilian plants looking for potential new ‘hits’ to combat leishmaniasis. We found that Baccharis platypoda was one of the Asteraceae species that displayed leishmanicidal activity. We now describe the isolation of the new clerodane diterpene (1), named platypodiol after its ethanolic leaf extract. Its structure was determined by detailed NMR and ESI-TOF/MS/MS experiments. Considering the few publications about this species, this result has increased the phytochemical knowledge about B. platypoda.