Planta Med 2014; 80 - P1L73
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1394730

Diterpenes from Euphorbia laurifolia

A Braca 1, MBV Saltos 1, F Dal Piaz 2, N De Tommasi 2, BF Naranjo Puente 3, SN Ebrahimi 4, 5, M Hamburger 4
  • 1Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Pisa, via Bonanno 33, 56126 Pisa, Italy;
  • 2Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Salerno, via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
  • 3Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Escuela Politecnica del Ejercito, Avenida El Progreso S/N, Sangolqui, Ecuador
  • 4Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Basel, Klingelbergstr. 50, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland
  • 5Medicinal Plants and Drugs Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, G. C., Evin, Tehran, Iran

Euphorbia L. is the largest genus in the Euphorbiaceae, including more than 2000 species distributed worldwide except for the arctic and subarctic zones. The plants are characterized by the presence of a white milky latex, and diterpenes as main secondary metabolites. Many species of the genus have been used in folk medicine as anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic agents, and for treatment of cancer, diarrhea, warts, and skin diseases [1 – 2]. Diterpenes occurring in Euphorbia species have provided many lead compounds for drug development due to their broad structural diversity including polycyclic and macrocyclic skeletons and various aliphatic and aromatic ester groups. In a search for new plant derived antitumoral compounds [3], diterpenes from Euphorbia were selected as a starting point for our research. Herein, we describe the isolation and structural identification of new lathyrane diterpenes from Euphorbia laurifolia (Juss. ex Lam.), a bush native of Central America and Ecuador. The structure of compounds was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic and spectrometric methods. The absolute configuration of compounds was determined with the aid of 2D-NOESY experiments, and by comparison of ECD spectra with TDDFT calculated data. Preliminary results on the cytotoxic activity of compounds will be presented.

References:

[1] Mwine JT, Van Damme P. (2011)J Med Plant Res 5: 652 – 662.

[2] Avila L. et al. (2010) Phytochemistry 71:243 – 248.

[3] Faiella L. et al. (2012) Mol Biosyst 8: 2637 – 2644.