Chemical Constituents from the Roots of Jasminum sambac (L.) Ait. and their Cytotoxicity to the Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Background: The roots of J. sambac is the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with analgesic and anesthetic effects. However, relatively fewer studies on the chemical compositions and the biological activities of the roots of J. sambac have been carried out till now. We studied the chemical compositions of the roots of J. sambac planted in Fujian Province to discover new compounds from this TCM to develop new drugs or drug candidates. Aim: This work aims to find the new compounds from the roots of Jasminum sambac (L.) Ait. (J. sambac) for the development of new drugs or drug candidates. Methods: The dichloromethane (DCM) extract was selected to isolate over silica gel column chromatography to obtain different polar fractions. Several similar fractions were combined according to Thin Layer Chemotherapy (TLC) or High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The combined fractions were reisolated by silica gel column chromatography, preparative TLC or HPLC to obtain nine pure compounds (1-9). The purity of the isolated compounds was detected by HPLC, and their structures were determined by 1D, 2D NMR, and HRESIMS analysis. The in vitro anticancer activity was evaluated using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) method. Results: Nine compounds were isolated in this work. Compounds (1-3) are new compounds, while compounds (4-9) were isolated for the first time from the roots of J. sambac. Their structures were elucidated by 1D, 2D NMR, and HRESIMS analysis. The biological evaluation showed that compound 7 exhibited potent cytotoxic efficacy against MCF-7 cell lines with IC50 values of 148.3 μM for 24 hs and 35.94 μM for 48 hs, respectively; compound 1 displayed significant cytotoxic potential against MCF-7 cell lines with IC50 value of 38.5 μM for 24 hs; while compound 3 and 4 displayed potent cytotoxic effects against MCF-7 cell lines with IC50 values of 161.1 μM and 243.7 μM for 48 hs, respectively. Conclusion: We discovered new compounds from the roots of J. sambac. and several compounds exhibited potent cytotoxity to MCF-7 cell lines. This work encourages us to further study the chemical constituents and their biological activities from the roots of J. sambac.