Estudo fitoquímico e farmacológico das cascas de croton lanjouwensis jablonszky (Euphorbiaceae)

Abstract

Natural products have never been forgotten, even with the heyday of synthetics, due to their importance for the synthesis, the research of new substances and the association with health. Thus, the study of species belonging to Brazil cannot be ignored, a country rich in biodiversity and which encompasses one of the largest family of angiosperm plants, such as the Euphorbiaceae family, which has great pharmacological, nutritional and economic power with about 72 genera and 1100 species. Among these, the genus Croton stands out, one of the richest in variety of secondary metabolites, with about 350 species existing in Brazil, rich in terpenes, with variable bioactivities. Even so, there are species that have been little studied, as an example, the species Croton lanjouwensis, synonymous with C. matourensís Aubl. not endemic from Brazil, but frequently found in the Amazonas. Few studies report the phytochemistry of the species, and its essential oil is better studied. Therefore, this work aims to contribute to the phytochemical knowledge of the featured species and the genus Croton, through the isolation of secondary metabolites from the bark of Croton lanjouwensis. Thus, the peels were subjected to drying, spraying, extraction and chromatographic techniques for the isolation of their chemical constituents. The chemical structures of the isolated substances were identified through the analysis of one and two-dimensional 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance data. In this study, five substances were isolated: methoxyeugenol, elemicin, hardwickiic acid, 8(17)12E, 14-labdatrien-18-oic acid and communol. The last three being reported for the first time in this species. The cytotoxicity of isolated labdane diterpene (communol) for melanoma (SK-MEL-28) and acute promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cell lines was evaluated. Checking cellular inhibition only for SK-MEL-28 cells, with 2.02% cellular inhibition rate response to communol. Finally, this work contributed to the expansion of the chemical knowledge of the species, Croton lanjouwensis, proving to be a source of diterpenes.