New phenylpropanoid-conjugated pentacyclic triterpenoids from the whole plants of Leptopus lolonum with their antiproliferative activities on cancer cells

Most of Euphorbiaceae plants are considered as folk medicinal plants because of their various pharmacological effects. However, there are eight Leptopus genus plants which belong to Euphorbiaceae have never be investigated. Thus, four Leptopus genus plants were collected to study their chemical constituents and pharmacological activities. In the present work, the cytotoxicities of the extracts of four Leptopus genus plants were evaluated before phytochemical experiments. And nine new phenylpmpanoid-conjugated pentacyclic triterpenoids, along with twenty-two known compounds were isolated from the whole plants of Leptopus lolonum. The structures of these new compounds were unequivocally elucidated by HRESIMS and 1D/2D NMR data. All triterpenoids were screened for their cytotoxicities against four cancer cell lines including HepG2, MCF-7, A549 and HeLa. Among these isolates, the triterpenoid with a phenylpropanoid unit showed increasing cytotoxicity on cancer cells, which suggested the importance of the phenylpropanoid moiety.

Automated summary

Most Euphorbiaceae plants are used as folk medicinal plants, but the Leptopus genus plants have not been investigated. A study found nine new phenylpropanoid-conjugated pentacyclic triterpenoids in Leptopus lolonum, which showed significant cytotoxicity against cancer cells.