INTRODUCTION For a long period of time, plants have been a valuable source of natural products for maintaining human health, especially in the last decade, with more intensive studies for natural therapies. According to World Health Organization, medicinal plants are the best source to obtain a variety of drugs. In developed countries 80 % of individuals use traditional medicine from which variety of compounds can be derived. Therefore, such plants should be investigated for better understanding of their properties, safety and efficiency 1 . Thousands of chemical compounds with different biolo- gical activities are produced from higher plants 2 . Medicinal plants contain biologically active ingredients which have various effects. These active ingredients representing the value ‘in use’ are produced by biological synthesis in the plant in very small concentrations of the dry material content of the plant. Some of these active ingredients accumulate in certain parts of the plant. Hence, it is only those portions of these plants that contain active ingredient that are used in therapeutic purposes. The part that contains the active ingredient is taken in the form of extract, infusion and decoction 3 . In the present era, plant and herb resources are abundant, but these resources are dwindling fast due to the onward march of civilization 4 . On the other hand, since long time medicines of plant origin are used since these are without any adverse effects. It is there- fore essential that new drugs from medicinal plants, that are A Bioactive Alkaloid from the Fruit of Coccinia grandis SWARNALI NATH CHOUDHURY 1 , S.B. PAUL 2 and BIPLAB DE 3,* 1 Department of Science and Technology, ICFAI University Tripura, Kamalghat, Agartala-799 210, India 2 Department of Chemistry, Assam University, Dargakona, Silchar-788 011, India 3 Regional Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Abhoynagar, Agartala-799 005, India *Corresponding author: E-mail: biplab_32@yahoo.co.in (Received: 1 January 2013; Accepted: 4 October 2013) AJC-14229 The analgesic activity of the methanolic extract of leaf of Coccinia grandis and its separated fractions were studied in acetic acid induced model. The in vivo antiinflammatory was also studied using Carageenan induced rat paw edema method. The result of both the studies indicated that the extract and its components possessed significant analgesic activity as well anti-inflammatory activity at the dose 100 mg/Kg bw. Both the activities were compared with standard drug aspirin for analgesic and diclofenac sodium for antiinflammatory. The structure of the bioactive compound has been characterized on the basis of spectral data such as IR, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR and mass spectral studies. Key Words: Coccina grandis, Analgesic activity, Antiinflammatory activity. effective, having no side effect and also low cost should be introduced and developed 5 . The leaves and fruits of Coccinia grandis are used as vege- table by the tribals of Tripura 6 . The leaves of the plant possess antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antipyretic, antiinflammatory, anti- spasmodic, cathartic and expectorant activities 7 . It is informed that on fractionation of bioactive crude ethanolic extract led to the isolation of three pure fractions from which one was characterized as 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde 8 . C. grandis is a dioecious perennial herbaceous vine. Its stems are mostly glabrous, produced annually from a tuberous rootstock, tendrils simple, axiallary and leaves are alternate, simple, blade broadly ovate, 4 lobed [(5-9) × ( 4-9)] cm, acute and mucronate at the apex, cordate with a broad sinus at the base 9 . The native range of C. grandis extends from Africa to Asia including India, Philippines, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Eastern Papua, New Guinea and Northern Territories (Australia) 10 . EXPERIMENTAL Sample preparation: The leaf of Coccinia grandis were collected from Agartala in the month of May, 2010 and were shed dried for 7 days. Since certain compounds get denatured in sunlight, it is dried under shade to avoid decomposition. The dried leaves were then crushed to fine powder. The pow- dered plant materials (100 g) were defatted with petroleum ether. After washing with petroleum ether the residuewere Asian Journal of Chemistry; Vol. 25, No. 17 (2013), 9561-9564 http://dx.doi.org/10.14233/ajchem.2013.15078