Cytotoxic plicamine alkaloids from the whole plants of Zephyranthes grandiflora

Abstract

Phytochemical investigation on the 80% EtOH extract of the whole plants of Zephyranthes grandiflora afforded three new 4a-epi-plicamine-type alkaloids, zephyranthines A-C (1-3). Structural elucidation of all the compounds were performed by spectral methods such as 1D and 2D (¹H-¹H COSY, HMQC, and HMBC) NMR spectroscopy, in addition to high resolution mass spectrometry. All the alkaloids were in vitro evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against six glioma cell lines (CHG-5, SH-SY5Y, SHG-44, U251, U343, and GL15). Alkaloids 2 and 3 exhibited significant cytotoxic activities against all tested cell lines with IC₅₀ values of less than 20 μM.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Zephyranthes grandiflora
• Amaryllidaceae
• alkaloids
• cytotoxic activity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.