Lapachol extraction from inner bark stem of Tecomella undulata (Roxb.) Seem.

Lapachol is a naphthoquinone with anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal and antivirus activities. Lapachol and some of its derivatives tested with good experimental results in tumors. The bark of some trees belonging to the Bignoniaceae family contain up to a few percent of lapachol and often a considerable amount of related compounds. Tecomella undulata (Roxb.) Seem. is the only native species of the family in arid and semi-arid of southern parts of Iran. In this research lapachol have been extracted from T. undulata inner bark stem that collected from near Darab in Fars province by three methods. The methods were heated methanol in microwave for 6 minutes, non-heated methanol and hot water at 90ºC temperature. The most effective extraction method was the heated methanol in microwave. According to this method, stem inner bark of T. undulata has 3.6% Lapachol in dry weight which is determined by high performance liquid chromatography.