Studies on the chemical constituents of fresh leaf of Eruca sativa extract and its biological activity as anticancer agent in vitro .

Phytochemical investigations of the aqueous extract of Eruca sativa fresh leaves, afforded the presence of nine natural flavonoid compounds which were isolated and identified as kaempferol 3-O-(2''-O-malonyl-β-D-glucopy-ranoside)-4'-O-β-D-glucopy-ranoside (1), kaempferol 3,4'-O-diglucopyranoside (2), rhamnocitrin 3-O-(2''-O-methylmalonyl-β-D-glucopyranoside)-4'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), 3-O-glucopyranoside (4), 4'-O-glucopyranoside (5), rhamnocitrin 3-O-glucopyranoside (6), 4'-O-glucopyranoside (7), kaempferol (8) and rhamnocitrin (9). Compounds (1) and (3) appear to be novel. Elucidation of the chemical structures of all the isolated compounds was determined by different spectroscopic methods in addition to the chemical and physical methods of analysis. In vitro antitumour study of E. sativa 70% ethanolic extract (ES-EE) as well as Compounds (1) and (3) proved their cytotoxic activity in 4 different human tumor cell lines: HepG2 (liver carcinoma), MCF7 (breast carcinoma), HCT116 (colon carcinoma), and Hep2 (larynx carcinoma). On the basis of these results, the ES-EE as well as Compounds (1) and (3) seem to have potential as a novel cancer preventive agent.   Key words: Eruca sativa (Mill.), cruciferae, fresh leaves, novel malonylated kaempferol glycosides, antitumour.