Nowadays, the discovery of new drugs from natural sources is increasing dramatically. Recently, the sight is directed toward ornamental plants due to their sustainability. In this study, we are reporting on the gas chromatography profile of fatty acids, other related lipids and hydrocarbons of the non-polar methylene chloride fraction of the extract of the ornamental tree Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. Chromatographic purification of the same fraction furnished eight pure known constituents, 3β-taraxerol (1), 3β-taraxerol acetate (2), all-trans-squalene (3), oleic acid (4), 1-hexacosanol (5), β-amyrin (6), β-sitosterol (7) and β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), which are relatively abundant in the fraction, six of them firstly isolated in the plant. A computer based bio-activity study indicated cancer treatment and/or prevention of the isolated compounds (1‒3 and 6) with pa values higher than for the other predicted effects. The experimental cytotoxicity assessment of the methylene chloride fraction demonstrated prominent cytotoxic effect against the cancer cell lines HepG2 (IC50 = 14.895µg/mL) and MCF-7 (IC50 = 18.859 µg/mL).
Key words: Ceiba pentandra, Cytotoxicity, Triterpenes, Separation, GC-MS, PASS.
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