Chemical, chemophenetic, and anticancer studies of Cattleya tigrina

Abstract The Orchidaceae family comprises about 27,000 species and is considered one of the largest families of flowering plants. Herein, the first chemical study of the native Brazilian orchid Cattleya tigrina A. Rich. reports the isolation of 15 compounds of different classes of natural products, among them triterpenoids, stilbenoids, phenolic acids, and 1,4-dihydro-phenanthrenequinone derivatives. The compounds were identified based on spectroscopic analyses. Cytotoxicity assays with plant crude extract, fractions and isolated compounds were performed against the HeLa cells and against the non-cancerous VERO cell lines. The chemophenetic significance of the presence of different compounds in Epidendroideae subfamily and Laeliinae subtribe was also discussed.