ABSTRACT
The Cactaceae family is composed by 124 genera and about 1438 species. Pilosocereus gounellei, popularly known in Brazil as xique-xique, is used in folk medicine to treat prostate inflammation, gastrointestinal and urinary diseases. The pioneering phytochemical study of P. gounellei was performed using column chromatography and HPLC, resulting in the isolation of 10 substances: pinostrobin (1), ß-sitosterol (2), a mixture of sitosterol 3-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside/stigmasterol 3-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside (3a/3b), 13²-hydroxyphaeophytin a (4), phaeophytin a (5), a mixture of ß-sitosterol and stigmasterol (6a/6b), kaempferol (7), quercetin (8), 7'-ethoxy-trans-feruloyltyramine (mariannein, 9) and trans-feruloyl tyramine (10). Compound 9 is reported for the first time in the literature. The structural characterization of the compounds was performed by analyses of 1-D and 2-D NMR data. In addition, a phenolic and flavonol total content assay was carried out, and the anti-oxidant potential of P. gounellei was demonstrated.