Two New Fatty Acid Derivatives from the Stem Bark of Alchornea laxiflora (Euphorbiaceae)

• Published in: Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society 2011-08, Vol.88 (8), p.1153-1159
• Main Authors: Sandjo, Louis Pergaud, Poumale, Hervé M. Poumale, Siwe, Xavier Noudou, Ntede, Hippolyte Nga, Shiono, Yoshihito, Ngadjui, Bonaventure Tchaleu, Krause, Rui M. W., Ndinteh, Derek Tantoh, Mbafor, Joseph Tanyi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Alchornea laxiflora; Bark; Biological and medical sciences; Biomaterials; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cytotoxicity; Euphorbiaceae; Fat industries; Fatty acids; Fatty derivatives; Flowers & plants; Food industries; Food Science; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Isolation; Leukemia; Original Paper; Toxicity
• ISSN: 0003-021X; 1558-9331
• DOI: 10.1007/s11746-011-1770-7

Euphorbiaceae is a family of plants used in traditional remedies in central Africa to treat selected diseases. Some of the phytochemical components in the stem bark of Alchornea laxiflora that have biochemical activity were identified. A number of novel compounds were isolated, including a new fatty acid ester, ( 1 ) a new ceramide, ( 2 ) some triterpenoids, ( 3 – 5 ), ellagic acid ( 6 ) and its derivatives ( 7 , 8 ) were isolated. The structures of these compounds were determined on the basis of spectroscopic methods as well as HR-ESI-TOF-MS analysis, chemical transformation and by comparison of their physical and spectral data with those reported in the literature. The cytotoxicity of some isolated compounds was investigated against human promyelocytic leukaemia (HL60) cell line by using the MTT method. Compounds 1 , 4 and 5 showed a cytotoxic activity with IC 50 at 58.7, 6.6 and 6.8 μM, respectively.