Temporal analysis of extracts from the leaves of Eugenia uniflora L.: chemistry and antifungal activity

Eugenia uniflora is popularly known as “pitanga” and presents a vast biological potential due to its secondary metabolites. In this work, the temporal analysis of hydroethanolic extracts of E. uniflora leaves were studied chemical and biologically over the 2018. The chromatographic profiles obtained by HPLC-UV-DAD indicate the similar chemical profile at 352 nm in all extracts. According to the study by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS (liquid chromatography to Tandem Mass Spectrometry with electrospray ionization), it was possible to identify the presence of thirty-five substances and between then quinic acid, chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, ellagic acid, fifteen tannins and sixteen flavonoids. This study provides the first identification of digalloyl-galagyl-hexoside, tetragalloylglucose, peduncalagin I, digalloylquinic acid, and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenol-1-O-β-D-(6′-O-galoyl)-glucoside in the leaf extract of Eugenia uniflora. The data indicate the variation and content of flavonols throughout the year, but these factors did not have an impact on the antifungal activity of these extracts against Cryptococcus neformans. These results indicate that regardless of the collection period, the plant has biological potential.