New eudesmenoic acid methyl esters from the seed oil of Jatropha curcas.

Three new eudesmenoic acid methyl esters (1-3), as well as five known compounds, including three germacranolides (4-6) and two eudesmanolides (7 and 8), were isolated from the seed oil of Jatropha curcas. The new compounds were elucidated by means of spectroscopic methods, including extensive NMR spectra. In addition, the structure of 8 was confirmed by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Among the isolates, compounds 4-6 were the first reported from the genus Jatropha. Using MTS viability assay, the cytotoxicity of compounds 2-8 were evaluated against HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7, and SW480 human tumor cell lines. Compounds 4 and 5 showed remarkable cytotoxicity against all the tested cell lines with IC50 values from 0.5 to 3.5 μM, and the new compound 3 displayed selective cytotoxic activity against A-549 cell with an IC50 value of 7.24 μM, but slight cytotoxicity against HL-60 and MCF-7 with IC50 values of 23.77 and 22.37 μM, respectively.