Nat Prod Sci.  2023 Sep;29(3):121-126. 10.20307/nps.2023.29.3.121.

A Cytotoxic Lupeol Fatty Acid Ester and Other Pentacyclic Triterpenes from Salvadora persica Seeds

• El-Desouky SK

• KMID: 2546879
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.20307/nps.2023.29.3.121

Abstract

The phytochemical investigation of the ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol seed extract of Salvadora persica resulted in the isolation and identification of five pentacyclic triterpenes (1-5), oleanolic acid (1), ursolic acid (2), β-amyrin (3), β-amyrin acetate (4) and lupeol tricosanoate (5). The structures of these compounds were established by the analysis of their NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric data. In the bioactivity assay, compound 5 showed moderate cytotoxic activities against breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7), colon cancer cell lines (HT-29) and hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HepG2) with IC₅₀ values of 9.4, 6.85 and 12.74 μg/mL. respectively. In all previous studies, lupeol tricosanoate (5) has been isolated as a mixture of triterpenoid long-chain fatty acid esters and this is the first report of its isolation and characterization as a pure molecule. Moreover, the occurrence of fatty acid ester of triterpene in this plant is of taxonomic importance.

Keyword

Salvadora persica; Triterpenes; Lupeol tricosanoate; Cytotoxicity; NMR