Phytochemical and crystallographic studies of Azara dentata extracts and its cytotoxic effects on human breast cancer cell, MCF-7

Abstract

Azara dentata Ruiz & Pav. also called “Corcolen” is an endemic shrub of Chile. The honey produced in areas with abundance of Azara dentata is highly appreciate by its polyphenols. In the present work, we isolated and identified for the first time the phytochemical components of Azara dentata and its cytotoxic effects were analyzed on cancer cells together with its antimicrobial activity. The results showed that palmitic acid methyl ester, linolenic acid methyl ester, α-tocopherol and β-sitosterol are the main non-polar constituents of the plant, while the compounds AD-3 (3-phenylisocoumarin, 0.0001% yield) and AD-4 (methyl 2-phenacyl-benzoate, 0.00039% yield) were isolated by column chromatography with n-hexane/EtOAc (3:2 v/v) and their structures were determined using NMR analysis. In addition, the structure of AD-4 was complemented by a single crystal x-ray structural determination. Azara dentata showed moderate antibacterial activity against S. aureus and S. epidermidis with a MIC of 5.0 and 10 mg/mL respectively. The cytotoxic activity of Azara dentata against MCF-7 cancer cells showed an IC50 of 15.63 µg/mL, this is a promissory value for the deeper study of its metabolites in cancer models.