Pharmaceutical potential of phorbol esters from Jatropha curcas oil.

Phorbol esters (PEs) are diterpenes present in Jatropha curcas L. seeds and have a myriad of biological activities. Since PEs are toxic, they are considered to be futile in Jatropha-based biodiesel production chain. In the present study, the extracted PEs from Jatropha oil were used as a starting material to synthesise pharmacologically important compound, prostratin. The prostratin synthesised from Jatropha showed identical mass with that of the reference standard prostratin, as determined by Nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS. Considering the rapid growth in Jatropha biodiesel industry, potential exists to harness large amount of PEs which can be further utilised to synthesise prostratin as a value added product.