Isolation of cytotoxic sesquiterpene lactones from the Tanacetopsis karataviensis (Kovalevsk.) Kovalevsk

Abstract

The structures and anticancer effects of two sesquiterpene lactones, 1 R,10S,3S,4R-diepoxyguai-5S,6S,7S-11(13)-en-6,12-olide (1) and hanphyllin (2) isolated from the aerial part of Tanacetopsis karataviensis (Kovalevsk.) Kovalevsk were investigated. The compound 1 was isolated for the first time as a natural compound and its structure was investigated by HR-ESI-MS, IR and NMR techniques. The X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to accurately determine the spatial structures of 1 and 2. Furthermore, we evaluated the cytotoxic activity of 1 and 2, and the chloroform fraction which contains both of them. Cytotoxic activity revealed that the effect of the chloroform fraction is stronger in growth inhibition of HeLa (89.7%) and HEp-2 (63.0%) cancer cells than the effect of individual compounds 1 (55.9 and 36.3%), 2 (78.6 and 50.3%) and the reference cisplatin (58.0 and 46.8%) respectively. Moreover, the chloroform fraction is less toxic to the hepatocytes.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Tanacetopsis karataviensis (Kovalevsk.) Kovalevsk
• sesquiterpene lactones
• cytotoxic activity
• X-ray analysis

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Nabiyev U.O., an employee of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, for recording the HR-ESI-MS spectrum.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Program for Fundamental Scientific Research of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences under Grants TA-FA-F7-008 and VA-FA-F6-010.