A Cytotoxic Lupeol Fatty Acid Ester and Other Pentacyclic Triterpenes from Salvadora persica Seeds

The phytochemical investigation of the ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol seed extract of Salvadora persica resulted in the isolation and identification of five pentacyclic triterpenes (1-5), oleanolic acid (1), ursolic acid (2), β-amyrin (3), β-amyrin acetate (4) and lupeol tricosanoate (5). The structures of these compounds were established by the analysis of their NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric data. In the bioactivity assay, compound 5 showed moderate cytotoxic activities against breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7), colon cancer cell lines (HT-29) and hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HepG2) with IC50 values of 9.4, 6.85 and 12.74 μg/mL. respectively. In all previous studies, lupeol tricosanoate (5) has been isolated as a mixture of triterpenoid long-chain fatty acid esters and this is the first report of its isolation and characterization as a pure molecule. Moreover, the occurrence of fatty acid ester of triterpene in this plant is of taxonomic importance.