Antimycobacterial and antioxidant activities of reserpine and its derivatives.

In view of the attributed medicinal properties of reserpine, a number of acyl reserpine derivatives were prepared and tested for antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, strain H(37)Rv and antioxidant activities. The results indicated that in the case of antimycobacterial activity, 10 out of 18 derivatives caused more inhibition than that caused by reserpine itself. The results of antioxidant activity revealed that acylation in benzene ring of reserpine decreases the percentage inhibition of DPPH in all the derivatives compared to the parent compound.