biomolecules Article Alpha-Amylase and Alpha-Glucosidase Enzyme Inhibition and Antioxidant Potential of 3-Oxolupenal and Katononic Acid Isolated from Nuxia oppositifolia Ali S. Alqahtani 1,2 , Syed Hidayathulla 1, Md Tabish Rehman 2,* , Ali A. ElGamal 2, Shaza Al-Massarani 2, Valentina Razmovski-Naumovski 3, Mohammed S. Alqahtani 4 , Rabab A. El Dib 5 and Mohamed F. AlAjmi 2 1 Medicinal, Aromatic and Poisonous Plants Research Center (MAPRC), College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, PO Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +966-14677248 Received: 24 November 2019; Accepted: 24 December 2019; Published: 30 December 2019 Abstract: Nuxia oppositifolia is traditionally used in diabetes treatment in many Arabian countries; however, scientific evidence is lacking. Hence, the present study explored the antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of the plant extracts and their purified compounds. The methanolic crude extract of N. oppositifolia was partitioned using a two-solvent system. The n-hexane fraction was purified by silica gel column chromatography to yield several compounds including katononic acid and 3-oxolupenal.