Abstract
As a part of ongoing search efforts for the discovery of anticancer lead
entities from natural sources, bulbs and flowers of the amaryllidaceous
plant Pancratium maritimum have been investigated. Fractionation of
the extracts of the fresh flowers and bulbs of P. maritimum led to
the isolation of four new alkaloids, namely pancrimatines A (1) and B
(2), norismine (3), and pancrimatine C (4),
together with the previously reported
N-methyl-8,9-methylenedioxy-6-phenanthridone (5),
trispheridine (6), and
N-methyl-8,9-methylenedioxyphenanthridine (7). The structures
of these alkaloids were established on the basis of extensive 1D and 2D NMR
and high-resolution mass spectral analyses as well as comparison with the
literature. Compounds 2 and 7 showed antiproliferative and
antimigratory activity against the highly metastatic human prostate cancer
cell line PC-3 cells without cytotoxicity. The phenanthridine alkaloid class
was identified as having potential for use to control prostate cancer
proliferation and migration.
Key words
Amaryllidaceae -
Pancratium maritimum
- alkaloids - antimigratory - antiproliferative activity
