New cytotoxic cycloartane triterpene from Cassia italica aerial parts

Article abstract of DOI:10.1080/14786419.2014.902820

Phytochemical study of the aerial parts of Cassiaitalica Mill. (family: Fabaceae) growing in Saudi Arabia afforded one new cycloartane triterpene, named (22E)-3-β-hydroxycycloart-22-en-24-one (2), together with eight known compounds: β-sitosterol (1), uvaol (3), daucosterol (4), methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (5), emodin (6), 4-hydroxypheny-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7), aloin (8) and rutin (9). The structure of the isolated compounds was determined by physical, chemical and spectral data (UV, IR, MS, 1D ( ¹H, ¹³C and DEPT) and 2D (¹H-¹H COSY, HSQC and HMBC) NMR), as well as by comparing with authentic samples. Compounds 3-5 and 7-9 were isolated for the first time from the plant. Compound 2 was evaluated for its cytotoxic activity against the L5178Y and PC12 cell lines. The total methanolic extract and compounds 5-9 exhibited free radical-scavenging activity using DPPH assay.

Full text of DOI:10.1080/14786419.2014.902820

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New cytotoxic cycloartane triterpene
from Cassia italica aerial parts
Gamal A. Mohameda
a Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar
University, Assiut Branch, Assiut 71524, Egypt
Published online: 01 Apr 2014.
To cite this article: Gamal A. Mohamed (2014) New cytotoxic cycloartane triterpene from Cassia
italica aerial parts, Natural Product Research: Formerly Natural Product Letters, 28:13, 976-983,
DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2014.902820
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Natural Product Research, 2014
Vol. 28, No. 13, 976–983, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2014.902820
New cytotoxic cycloartane triterpene from Cassia italica aerial parts
Gamal A. Mohamed*
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Assiut Branch, Assiut 71524,
Egypt
(Received 22 January 2014; final version received 4 March 2014)
Phytochemical study of the aerial parts of Cassia italica Mill. (family: Fabaceae)
growing in Saudi Arabia afforded one new cycloartane triterpene, named (22E)-3-b-
hydroxycycloart-22-en-24-one (2), together with eight known compounds: b-sitosterol
(1), uvaol (3), daucosterol (4), methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (5), emodin (6), 4-
hydroxypheny-O-b-D-glucopyranoside (7), aloin (8) and rutin (9). The structure of the
isolated compounds was determined by physical, chemical and spectral data (UV, IR,
MS, 1D (1H, 13C and DEPT) and 2D (1H–1H COSY, HSQC and HMBC) NMR), as
well as by comparing with authentic samples. Compounds 3–5 and 7–9 were isolated
for the first time from the plant. Compound 2 was evaluated for its cytotoxic activity
against the L5178Y and PC12 cell lines. The total methanolic extract and compounds
5–9 exhibited free radical-scavenging activity using DPPH assay.
Keywords: Cassia italic; cycloartane; phenolics; anthraquinones; antioxidant;
cytotoxicity
1. Introduction
Cassia italic (family: Fabaceae) is a perennial shrubby plant known as Eshrinq and grows
abundantly in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Cassia species such as Cassia italica and Cassia
senna are used in Saudi traditional medicine for treatment of constipation, oedema and skin
infections (Al-Yahya et al. 1990). Ethno-medically, the decoction of the entire plant or its leaves
has been used as laxative, purgative and expectorant (Al-Said 1993). In addition, it is used for
rheumatic and intestinal disorders as well as urinary tract infections (Al-Said 1993). The ethanolic
extract of the whole plant revealed a wide range of biological activities such as anti-inflammatory,
antipyretic, analgesic, anti-neoplastic, antiviral, central nervous system depressant, antioxidant,
hepatoprotective, hypoglycaemic and antibacterial (Assane et al. 1994; Ghanadi et al. 2000;
Nassr-Allah et al. 2009; Qamar et al. 2011; Sermakkani & Thangapandian 2011; Dabai et al. 2012;
Modibbo & Nadro 2012; Masoko et al. 2012; Nadro & Onoagbe 2012). A literature survey on the
chemical constituents of C. italica revealed the presence of anthraquinones (Elsayed et al. 1992;
Kamzi et al. 1994; Dave & Ledwani 2012; Dabai et al. 2012), flavonoids (Elsayed et al. 1992),
sterols (Elsayed et al. 1992), triterpenes (Elsayed et al. 1992), hydrocarbons and fatty acids
(Ermakkani & Thangapandian 2012). Reviewing the current literature, there are no previous
chemical investigations for the constituents of C. italica growing in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, a
phytochemical study of the plant was performed aiming to identify its constituents as well as the
biological evaluation of the total methanolic extract (TME) and isolated compounds. This article
reports the isolation and characterisation of one new cycloartane triterpene (2) together with eight
known compounds (1, 3–9) from the aerial parts of C. italica (Figure 1). Compounds 3–5 and 7–9
*Email: gamals2001@yahoo.com
q 2014 Taylor & Francis

Natural Product Research
977
30
O
8
7
22
21
18
29
COOCH3
26
20
24
25
27
19
18
20
17
21
22
1
23
12
2
12
26
6
5
11
13
19
10
13
14
16
11
17
H
3
1
25
15
28
9
14
16
OH
4
2
3
8
9
15
1
4
OH
5
8
7
10
2
30
7
OH
5
6
4
RO
27
3
5
HO
1 R= H
4 R= Glucose
6
2
3
HO
28
29
OH
23
OH
6`
24
3´
OH
OH
OH
OH
4´
O
2´
1´
O
HO
HO
1`
9
1
8
1a
4a
8a
5a
3`
O
8
OH
5´
HO
O
7
2
2
7
9
1
6´
3
OH
OH
6
2
HO
6
O
11
10
3
6
8
1
CH2OH
4
5
10
8a
9a
4a
4
9
3
5
7
5
2
3
H
O
4
OH
O
1´´
OH
OH
O
6
10
OH
10a
O
HO
9
11
4
5
7
O
H3C
HO
O
OH
OH
6
1´´´
O
HO
HO
8
HO
Figure 1. Structures of the isolated compounds.
were reported for the first time from the plant. The TME and compounds 5–9 exhibited free
radical-scavenging activity. Compound 2 exhibited cytotoxic activity against the L5178Y and
PC12 cancer cell lines.
2. Results and discussion
Compound 2 was obtained as colourless needles and gave positive Liebermann–Burchard
reaction, suggesting 2 to be a triterpene derivative (Reinhold 1935). Its molecular formula was
C30H48O2 as established by the HR-ESI-MS pseudo-molecular ion peak at m/z 441.3642
[M þ H]þ (calc. for C30H49O2, 441.3654), requiring seven degrees of unsaturation. The IR
spectrum exhibited absorption bands at 1722 (carbonyl ketone) and 3435 (hydroxyl group) cm21
.
The 1H NMR spectrum revealed the presence of cyclopropane methylene group at dH 0.55 and
0.32 (each 1H, d, J ¼ 3.6 Hz) (Estrada et al. 2002; Abdel-Monem et al. 2008), four tertiary methyl
groups at dH 0.97 (H3-18), 0.95 (H3-28), 0.80 (H3-29) and 0.89 (H3-30), three secondary methyls at
dH 1.08 (d, J ¼ 6.4, H3-21), 1.08 (d, J ¼ 6.4 Hz, H3-26) and 0.86 (d, J ¼ 6.4 Hz, H3-27), one
oxymethine at dH 3.28 (m, H-3), two trans-coupled olefinic protons at dH 7.53 (1H, dd, J ¼ 15.8,
7.4 Hz, H-22) and 7.71 (1H, d, J ¼ 15.8 Hz, H-23), a hydroxyl group at dH 4.30 (m, 3-OH) and a
series of overlapped signals, suggesting the presence of a 9,19-cycloartene-type triterpene with
C22ZC23 double bond. The 13C NMR spectrum displayed thirty carbon signals including seven
methyls, nine methylenes, eight methines and six quaternary carbons; one of them for ketone
moiety at dC 205.5. The 13C NMR spectrum exhibited two olefinic carbons at dC 128.8 (d, C-22)
and 148.9 (d, C-23) and an oxymethine at dC78.8 (d, C-3). The presence of oxygen-bearing carbon
at C-3 was confirmed by the HMBC spectrum (Figure S6; see supplementary materials), which
revealed cross-peaks between H3-28, H3-29, H-5, H-1 and 3-OH group with C-3. The position of
the double bond at C22–C23 was established based on 1H–1H COSY of H-22 with H-23 and H-20
and further confirmed by the HMBC correlations of H3-21 to C-22 and H-20and H-25to C-23. The
HMBC cross-peaks of H3-26, H3-27, H-25, H-22 and H-23 to C-24 allowed the ketone moiety to

978
G.A. Mohamed
be located at C-24. Furthermore, HMBC correlations from H3-18 and H3-30 to C-13 and C-14, H-
19 to C-5, C-9, and C-10, H-1 to C-2 and C-10, and H3-28 and H3-29 with C-2, C-3, C-4, and C-10
were observed. The relative configuration of H-3 was determined to be a-configuration by
comparing the 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts as well as coupling constant with those of related
compounds in the literature (Estrada et al. 2002; Zhang et al. 2005). Thus, from the above-
mentioned evidences and by comparing the NMR (1H–1H COSY, HMQC, DEPT and HMBC)
spectral data of 2 with those in the literature, the structure of 2 was elucidated as (22E)-3-b-
hydroxycycloart-22-en-24-one and considered a new natural product.
The known compounds (Figure 1) were identified by analysing the spectroscopic data (1D,
2D NMR and MS) and comparing their data with those in the literature as well as co-
chromatography with authentic samples to be b-sitosterol (1) (Sayedy et al. 2007), uvaol (3)
(Mahato & Kundu 1994; Min et al. 2000), daucosterol (4) (Sayedy et al. 2007), methyl 3,4-
dihydroxybenzoate (5) (Azizuddin et al. 2010), emodin (6) (Guo et al. 2011), 4-hydroxypheny-
´
O-b-D-glucopyranoside (7) (Cepanec & Litvic 2008; Prabhu et al. 2011), aloin (8) (Karagianis
et al. 2003) and rutin (9) (Malikov & Yuldashev 2002).
Acid hydrolysis of compounds 4, 7 and 9 gave b-sitosterol, 4-hydroxyphenol and quercetin
as aglycones and glucose and rhamnose as sugar moieties, respectively.
2,20-Diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical is widely used as a model system to investigate
the scavenging activities of several natural compounds. DPPH is scavenged by the antioxidants
through the donation of proton forming the reduced DPPH which can be quantified by its
decrease of absorbance.
Cassia italica had been known to be a rich source of flavonoids, anthraquinones and phenols,
possessing variety of biological activities (Elsayed et al. 1992; Kamzi et al. 1994; Dave &
Ledwani 2012; Dabai et al. 2012). The TME and compounds 5–9 exhibited a concentration-
dependent scavenging activity by quenching DPPH radicals (Table 1). A maximum inhibition
(86.25% for TME and 74.2% for compound 9) of DPPH free radical was observed at
concentrations of 800 mg/mL and 20 mM, respectively. We can, therefore, deduce that the
antioxidant activity of C. italica TME as demonstrated in this study could be due to the presence
of phenolic compounds. These findings validated the use of this plant in folk medicine for the
treatment of some diseases such as skin diseases and urinary tract infections and its great
potential to be used as a source of antioxidant phytochemicals. Moreover, rutin (9) exhibited
potent DPPH-scavenging activity, which is in accordance with the reported data (Sayed et al.
´
2006; Zielinska et al. 2010). It was reported that 9,19-cyclolanostane triterpene exhibited
Table 1. The DPPH radical-scavenging activity results.
Sample
Concentration
DPPH (% inhibition)
TMEa
TMEa
TMEa
TMEa
TMEa
TMEa
5b
25
50
38.91 ^ 1.7
56.74 ^ 1.4
67.81 ^ 1.0
76.43 ^ 1.2
82.94 ^ 2.4
86.25 ^ 2.7
70.3 ^ 0.62
42.1 ^ 0.45
21.7 ^ 0.41
36.2 ^ 0.70
74.2 ^ 0.63
100
200
400
800
20
20
20
20
20
6b
7b
8b
9b
Note: Each value represents the mean ^SD, n ¼ 3.
a Concentration: mg/mL.
b Concentration: mM.

Natural Product Research
979
cytotoxic activity (Kuang et al. 2011). The cytotoxic effect of 2 was tested against L5178Y and
PC12 cell lines. It was found that 2 displayed 81% and 69% growth suppression against L5178Y
and PC12 cell lines (concentration 22.7 mM) and 73% and 57% (concentration 6.8 mM), with
ED50(s) 1.09 and 1.86 mM, respectively.
3. Experimental
3.1. General experimental procedures
Melting points were carried out using an Electrothermal 9100 Digital Melting Point apparatus
(Electrothermal Engineering Ltd, Essex, England). The UV spectrum was determined using
the Perkin Elmer double beam spectrophotometer Model 550S, attached to a Hitachi recorder
Model 561, using 1 cm quartz cell. Optical rotation was measured on a JASCO digital
polarimeter. The IR spectra were measured on a Shimadzu Infrared-400 spectrophotometer
(Kyoto, Japan). HR-ESI-MS was recorded on an LTQ Orbitrap (ThermoFinnigan, Bremen,
Germany). EI-MS was recorded on a Finnigan MAT TSQ 7000 mass spectrometer. ESI-MS
and LC–MS spectra were obtained with an LCQ DECA mass spectrometer (Thermo
Finnigan, Bremen, Germany) coupled to an Agilent 1100 HPLC system equipped with a
photodiode array detector. The IR spectra were measured on a Shimadzu Infrared-400
spectrophotometer (Kyoto, Japan). 1D and 2D NMR spectra (chemical shifts in ppm and
coupling constants in Hz) were recorded on Bruker BioSpin GmbH 400 MHz Ultrashield
spectrometer using DMSO-d6, CDCl3 and CD3OD as solvents, with TMS as the internal
reference. Solvents were distilled before spectroscopic measurements. Column chromato-
graphic separations were performed on SiO2 60 (0.04–0.063 mm, Merck) and Sephadex LH-
20 (0.25–0.1 mm, Merck). TLC was performed on pre-coated TLC plates with SiO2 60 F254
(0.2 mm, Merck). The solvent systems used for TLC analyses were CHCl3:MeOH (97:3, S1),
CHCl3:MeOH (90:10, S2), CHCl3:MeOH (85:15, S3) and n-BuOH:HOAc:H2O (4:1:2, S4).
The compounds were detected by UV absorption at lmax 255 and 366 nm followed by
spraying with anisaldehyde/H2SO4 reagent and heating at 1108C for 1–2 min.
3.2. Plant material
C. italica aerial parts were collected in November 2011 from the campus of King Abdulaziz
University and were authenticated by Dr. Abdulaziz. A. Fayed, Prof. of Plant Taxonomy,
Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, as well as morphological features and
database present in the library (Collenette 1999; Migahid 2001). A voucher specimen has
been deposited at the Department of Natural products and Alternative Medicine, Faculty of
Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (Registration code AXG-
2011).
3.3. Extraction and isolation
The air-dried powdered aerial parts of C. italica (500 g) were extracted with 70% MeOH (6
£ 2.5 L) at room temperature. The combined methanol extract was concentrated under reduced
pressure to afford a dark brown residue (31.0 g). The latter was suspended in distilled H2O
(200 mL) and successively partitioned between n-hexane and EtOAc to yield n-hexane (4.9 g),
EtOAc (9.2 g) and aqueous (10.1 g) fractions, respectively. From each, total, n-hexane and
EtOAc fractions, 5.0, 1.0, and 1.0 g, respectively, were stored for biological studies. The n-
hexane fraction (3.5 g) was subjected to VLC on SiO2 column eluted with n-hexane:EtOAc
gradient to yield three sub-fractions. Sub-fractions B (890 mg, n-hexane:EtOAc, 50:50) and C
(950 mg, EtOAc, 100%) were chromatographed separately on SiO2 (60 g £ 50 cm £ 1 cm)

980
G.A. Mohamed
eluted with n-hexane:EtOAc gradient to afford compounds 1 (42 mg, sub-fraction B), 2
(5.4 mg, sub-fraction C) and 3 (8.5 mg, sub-fraction C). The EtOAc fraction (7.0 g) was
subjected to VLC on SiO2 column chromatography using CHCl3:MeOH gradient to afford six
sub-fractions. Sub-fraction B (827 mg, CHCl3:MeOH, 90:10) was chromatographed over SiO2
column chromatography using CHCl3:MeOH gradient elution to give 4 (62 mg). SiO2 column
chromatography of sub-fraction C (659 mg, CHCl3:MeOH, 75:25) using CHCl3:MeOH
gradient gave 5 (17 mg) and 6 (11 mg). Sub-fraction D (490 mg, CHCl3:MeOH, 50:50) was
treated similar to sub-fraction C to afford 7 (13 mg). A Sephadex LH-20 column
chromatography (40 g £ 50 cm £ 1 cm) of sub-fraction E (970 mg) using MeOH as an eluent
yielded impure 8 and 9, which were further purified by repeated chromatography on SiO2
column (40 g £ 50 cm £ 1 cm) using CHCl3:MeOH gradient to afford 8 (17 mg) and 9 (32 mg).
3.4. Spectral data
(22E)-3-b-hydroxycycloart-22-en-24-one (1): Colourless needles (5.4 mg); Rf: 0.69, silica gel
60 F254 (S1); m.p. 181–1828C; [a ]D þ 31.5 (c 0.5, CHCl3); UV (CHCl3): lmax (log 1) 254 nm
(2.44) nm; IR (KBr) nmax 3435, 2930, 1722, 1645, 870, 723 cm21; 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3):
dH 1.62 (1H, m, H-1A), 1.27 (1H, m, H-1B), 1.59 (1H, m, H-2A), 1.72 (1H, m, H-2B), 3.28 (1H,
m, H-3), 1.50 (1H, m, H-5), 1.61 (2H, m, H-6), 1.75 (1H, m, H-7A), 1.22 (1H, m, H-7B), 1.28
(1H, m, H-8), 1.97 (1H, m, H-11A), 1.05 (1H, m, H-11B), 2.48 (1H, m, H-12A), 2.39 (1H, m, H-
12B), 1.36 (1H, m, H-15A), 1.25 (1H, m, H-15B), 1.28 (2H, m, H-16), 1.59 (1H, m, H-17), 0.97
(3H, s, H-18), 0.55 (1H, d, J ¼ 3.6 Hz, H-19A), 0.32 (1H, d, J ¼ 3.6 Hz, H-19B), 2.61 (1H, m,
H-20), 1.08 (3H, d, J ¼ 6.4 Hz, H-21), 7.53 (1H, dd, J ¼ 15.8, 7.4 Hz, H-22), 7.71 (1H, d,
J ¼ 15.8 Hz, H-23), 2.37 (1H, m, H-25), 1.08 (3H, d, J ¼ 6.4 Hz, H-26), 0.86 (3H, d, J ¼ 6.4 Hz,
H-27), 0.95 (3H, s, H-28), 0.80 (3H, s, H-29), 0.89 (3H, s, H-30), 4.30 (1H, m, 3-OH); 13C NMR
(100 MHz, CDCl3): dC 32.9 (t, C-1), 32.0 (t, C-2), 78.8 (d, C-3), 40.5 (s, C-4), 48.0 (d, C-5), 21.1
(t, C-6), 30.1 (t, C-7), 47.1 (d, C-8), 19.9 (s, C-9), 36.6 (s, C-10), 26.0 (t, C-11), 37.5 (t, C-12),
45.3 (s, C-13), 48.8 (s, C-14), 35.7 (t, C-15), 26.5 (t, C-16), 52.7 (d, C-17), 18.0 (q, C-18), 30.3 (t,
C-19), 40.8 (d, C-20), 18.1 (q, C-21), 128.8 (d, C-22), 148.9 (d, C-23), 205.5 (s, C-24), 35.5 (d,
C-25), 18.3 (q, C-26), 19.8 (q, C-27), 25.4 (q, C-28), 14.0 (q, C-29), 18.4 (q, C-30); HR-ESI-MS
m/z [M þ H]þ441.3642 (calcd for C30H49O2, 441.3654).
3.5. Antioxidant activity
The antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH assay as previously outlined (Burits & Bucar
2000; Kumarasamy et al. 2004; Raziq et al. 2011; Mohamed et al. 2013a). One millilitre of the
TME (25, 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 mg/mL) and compounds 5–9 (20 mM) were mixed with
1 mL of DPPH (4 mg was dissolved in 50 mL HPLC MeOH to obtain a concentration of
80 mg/mL) and allowed to stand for half an hour for any reaction to occur; 20 mM concentrations
of tested compounds were used as previously published (Mohamed et al. 2013a). The UV
absorbance was recorded at 517 nm and compared with DPPH in MeOH (blank). The
experiment was performed in triplicate. The average absorption was recorded for each
concentration. The same procedure was followed for the standard propyl gallate (a known
synthetic antioxidant) set as 100% antioxidant activity. The % free radical-scavenging activity
was calculated using the following formula:
ꢀ
ꢁ
absorbance with the sample
absorbance of the blank
antioxidant activity ¼ 100 £ 1 2

Natural Product Research
981
3.6. Cytotoxicity test
The cytotoxicity of 2 against L5178Y (mouse lymphoma cells) and PC12 (brain tumour cells of
the rats) at concentrations of 6.8 and 22.7 mM was determined using the microculture
tetrazolium assay (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT)), and
compared with that of untreated controls. Of the test samples, stock solutions in ethanol 96%
(v/v) were prepared. Exponentially growing cells were harvested, counted and diluted
appropriately. Of the cell suspension, 50 mL containing 3750 cells were pipetted into 96-well
microtitre plates. Subsequently, 50 mL of a solution of the test samples containing the
appropriate concentration was added to each well. The small amount of ethanol present in the
wells did not affect the experiments. The test plates were incubated at 378C with 5% CO2 for
72 h. A solution of MTT was prepared at 5 mg/mL in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; 1.5 mM
KH2PO4, 6.5 mM Na2HPO4, 137 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl; pH 7.4) and from this solution, 20 mL
was pipetted into each well. The yellow MTT penetrates the healthy living cells and in the
presence of mitochondrial dehydrogenases, MTT is transformed to its blue formazan complex.
After an incubation period of 4 h at 378C in a humidified incubator with 5% CO2, the medium
was centrifuged (15 min, 208C, 210 £ g) with 200 mL DMSO, the cells were lysed to liberate the
formed formazan product. After thorough mixing, the absorbance was measured at 520 nm using
a scanning microtitre-well spectrophotometer. The colour intensity is correlated with the number
of healthy living cells (Mohamed et al. 2013b).
3.7. Acid hydrolysis
The solution of the isolated glycosides (4, 7 and 9) (5 mg of each in 10 mL MeOH) was treated
with 5% H2SO4 (1.5 mL) and refluxed on a boiling water bath for 3 h. The aglycone was
extracted with EtOAc and concentrated under reduced pressure. It was further purified on
Sephadex LH-20 column using MeOH as an eluent and identified by co-TLC with an authentic
sample. The sugars in the aqueous layer were identified by co-paper chromatography with
authentic materials using solvent system (S4) (Sayedy et al. 2007).
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, in this study, nine compounds were isolated and elucidated from C. italica Mill.
Compound 2 is a new natural compound. Compounds 3–5 and 7–9 were reported for the first
time from the plant. The TME and compounds 5 and 9 exhibited high antioxidant activity.
Compound 2 displayed cytotoxic activity against the L5178Y and PC12 cell lines.
Supplementary material
Supplementary material relating to this article is available online, alongside Figures S1–S6.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep thanks to Prof. Dr W.E.G. Mu¨ller (Institute fu¨r Physiologische Chemie,
Duesbergweg 6, D-55099 Mainz, Germany) for cytotoxicity testing.
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