Structural Characterization of Polyphenolics in Livistona chinensis Using HPLC-PDA-MS

Objectives: This study focused on the identification and characterization of secondary metabolites tentatively from aqueous ethanolic leaf extract of Livistona chinensisby HPLC-PDA-ESI-MS/MS and evaluation of its cytotoxic activity. Methods: The aqueous ethanolic extract was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to photodiode array detection of mass spectroscopy (PDA-MS/MS), to detect the secondary metabolites in L. chinensis leaves extract. It was also estimated for its cytotoxicity againsthuman prostate carcinoma (PC3) and hepatocellular liver carcinoma (HepG2) cancer cell lines using SRB (3-(4, 5-dimethyl thiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. Results: Forty-two secondary metabolites were tentatively identified; the most major compounds were C-glycoside derivatives of apigenin, luteolin and tricin together with phenolic acids. The 70% alcoholic extract of L. chinensis leaves exhibit more antitumor activity against PC3than against HepG2. Conclusion:L. chinensis is a privileged source of C-flavonoids that revealed the efficiency of HPLC-MS metabolomics in natural products drug discovery.