In a recent antimicrobial screening of 19 different Tabmmontana species (2), it
was found that the ethanolic extracts of the root bark of Tabernmontana chippii (Stapf)
Pichon showed strong antimicrobial activity against both gram-positive and gramnegative
bacteria and weak antifungal and antiyeast activity. This observation
prompted a closer examination of the species in order to identify the compounds responsible
for the antimicrobial activity. The results of this study are set out below.
T. chippii (syn. Conopharyngia chippii Stapf) is a small understory tree growing in
light forest or bush and occurring in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and perhaps Liberia (3). No
ethnomedicinal uses of the plant are known to the authors. In an earlier phytochemical
investigation, voaphylline (22) (syn. conoflorine) was isolated from this species (4).
Renner and Prins stated that the plant is suitable for the extraction of conopharyngine
(5).