Abstract
Chromatographic purification of the n-hexane and dichloromethane extracts of Nuxia oppositifolia aerial parts, growing in Saudi Arabia, resulted in the isolation and characterization of three new labdane-type diterpene acids, 2β-acetoxy-labda-7-en-15-oic acid (1), 2β-acetoxy-7-oxolabda-8-en-15-oic acid (2), 2β-acetoxy-6-oxolabda-7-en-15-oic acid (3), and one new seco-triterpene, 3,4-seco olean-12-en-3,30 dioic acid (4), together with 10 known lupane, oleanane and ursane-type triterpenes, as well as the common phytosterols, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol (5–16). Their structures have been assigned on the basis of different spectroscopic techniques including 1D and 2D NMR. Moreover, 13 of the isolated compounds were tested on the human cancer cell lines HeLa (cervical), A549 (lung) and MDA (breast), and most of the compounds showed potent cytotoxic activities in vitro.
Highlights
The genus Nuxia comprises ca. 40 species of shrubs and trees distributed over the southern region of the Arabian peninsula, tropical Africa (Madagascar, Comoro and the Mascarene Islands) and South Africa [1]
As part part of of our our search search for for novel novel medicinal medicinal compounds compounds from from plants, plants, we we investigated investigated the the aerial aerial parts of Chromatographic separation and purification resulted in the isolation parts of N. oppositifolia
Chromatographic separation and purification resulted in the isolation andand full full identification of three new labdane diterpenoic acidsa (1–3), a new seco-triterpene, 3,4-seco identification of three new labdane diterpenoic acids (1–3), new seco-triterpene, 3,4-seco olean-12olean-12-en-3,30 acid (4), nine known triterpenes, and the common phytosterols en-3,30 dioic aciddioic
Summary
The genus Nuxia (family Buddlejaceae) comprises ca. 40 species of shrubs and trees distributed over the southern region of the Arabian peninsula, tropical Africa (Madagascar, Comoro and the Mascarene Islands) and South Africa [1]. Several Nuxia species are plants of economic and medicinal interest with a rich diversity of ethnobotanical uses. Some of the Nuxia plants have been studied phytochemically, revealing the presence of phenylpropanoid glycosides such as verbascoside [6], in addition to clerodane and labdane diterpenoids, and pentacyclic triterpenes [5]. Studies have been conducted on N. oppositifolia, where only two compounds, namely verbascoside verbascoside and diglycoside the acylated200diglycoside. These facts encouraged us to reinvestigate the chemical constituents and biological activities of encouraged us to reinvestigate the chemical constituents and biological activities of N. oppositifolia, N. oppositifolia, aiming to find entities able to cure contemporary diseases suchpaper, as cancer.
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