Chemical constituents and cytotoxic activity of the root of Antidesma hiiranense

Antidesma hiiranense Hayata (Euphorbiaceae) is an endemic shrub which is distributed in the southern and eastern parts at low altitudes of Taiwan. The methanolic extract of the root of this species showed cytotoxicity on high-throughput screening against MCF-7, NCI-H460 and SF-268 cancer cell lines, and was partitioned into EtOAc and H₂O-soluble layers. Furthermore, the EtOAc-soluble layer showed cytotoxicity against MCF-7, NCI-H460 and SF-268 cancer cell lines. Investigation of the active EtOAc-soluble layer led to the isolation of twenty-eight compounds, including three new compounds, barbatumol C (1), barbatumol D (2), antidesnenol (3) and twenty-five known compounds, braylin (4), scopoletin (5), cedrelopsin (6), barbatumol A (7), barbatumol B (8), 3-(1,1-dimethylallyl)scopoletin (9), obtusidin (10), antidesmanin A (11), antidesmanin B (12), antidesmanin C (13), antidesnone (14), antidesnol (15), vanillin (16), vanillic acid (17), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (18), syringaldehyde (19), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (20), squalene (21), betulinic acid (22), syrungaresinol (23), α-tocopherol (24), α-tocopherol quinone (25), a mixture of β-sitosterol (26) and stigmasterol (27), and hyeronine (28). The structures of these isolates were elucidated by spectral analyses. Among these isolates, the two known coumarinolignoids antidesmanins B (12) and antidesmanins C (13), showed cytotoxicity against MCF-7 and SF-268 cancer cell lines.

Acknowledgements: This work was kindly supported by a grant from the National Science Council of the Republic of China.