Phytochemical study and cytotoxicity evaluation of Colchicum stevenii Kunth (Colchicaceae): a Jordanian meadow saffron.

Mohsen S Al-Mahmoud, Feras Q Alali, Khaled Tawaha, Rana M Qasaymeh

Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science and Technology, PO Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan.

Natural product research 2006 Feb

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Isolation, characterization, and biological evaluation of active components of Colchicum stevenii Kunth (Colchicaceae) are described. Colchicum stevenii is an unexplored Jordanian specie with toxic reputation. Directed by brine shrimp lethality test (BST), methanolic extraction, liquid-liquid partition, preparative TLC, and semi-preparative HPLC, it resulted in the isolation of six cytotoxic compounds. The compounds, reported for the first time from this specie, are: (-)-colchicine (1), 2-demethyl-(-)-colchicine (2), (-)-cornigerine (3), beta-lumicolchicine (4), (-)-isoandrocymbine (5) and (-)-O-methylandrocymbine (6). A new, in-house developed, acidic-based reverse-phase gradient semi-preparative HPLC method for the separation of colchisides is presented here. Structural elucidation was based on spectroscopic techniques principally; 1H-NMR and low resolution EIMS. Based on BST results, reported as LC50 values in microg mL(-1) (ppm) with 95% confidence intervals, (-)-colchicine (2.5 ppm) and (-)-cornigerine (2.7 ppm) were the most potent.

Citation

Mohsen S Al-Mahmoud, Feras Q Alali, Khaled Tawaha, Rana M Qasaymeh. Phytochemical study and cytotoxicity evaluation of Colchicum stevenii Kunth (Colchicaceae): a Jordanian meadow saffron. Natural product research. 2006 Feb;20(2):153-60