PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Phytochemical investigation of the stem barks of Ficus exasperata Vahl. (Moraceae) led to the isolation of two new cinnamic acid derivatives stereoisomers, named ficusanolide A (1) and ficusanolide B (2) along with twelve known compounds: ficusanol (3), umbelliferone-6-carboxylic acid (4), oxypeucedanin hydrate (5), marmesin (6), decursinol (7), beta-amyrin acetate (8), lupeol (9), betulinic acid (10), ursolic acid (11), a mixture of stigmasterol (12) and beta-sitosterol (13), sitosteryl-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (14); and one hemisynthetic derivative : per acetylated betulinic acid (15). Their structures were established by the means of their physical data (melting point, rotatory power), their spectroscopic data, particularly IR, NMR (1H, 13C, DEPT, COSY, HSQC and HMBC) data, and HR-ESIMS data. Crude extract, compounds 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, as well as the semisynthetic derivative 15 were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity on the human cervix carcinoma cell line KB-3-1 and the human colon cancer cell line HT-29. Ursolic acid 11 showed a moderate activity on both cancer cells tested with IC50s of 50.9 mu M and 34.4 mu M respectively.