Marianna C. Silva, Gracielle Cunha, Pollyana Firmino, Loide O. Sallum, Antônio Menezes, Jocely Dutra, João de Araujo-Neto, Alzir A. Batista, Javier Ellena, Hamilton B. Napolitano,

Abstract

The Cerrado biome is the world’s largest and most diversified tropical savanna. Despite its diversity, there remains a paucity of scientific discussion and evidence about the medicinal use of Cerrado plants. One of the greatest challenges is the complexity of secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids, present in those plants and their extraction, purification, and characterization, which involves a wide range of approaches, tools, and techniques. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the search for accurately proven medicinal plants against cancer, a leading cause of death worldwide, has contributed to this growing area of research. This study set out to extract, purify, and characterize 3-O-methylquercetin isolated from the plant Strychnos pseudoquina A.St.-Hil. (Loganiaceae) and to test it for antiproliferative activity and selectivity against different tumor and nontumor human cell lines. A combined-method approach was employed using 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, Hirshfeld surface analysis, and theoretical calculations to extensively characterize this bioflavonoid. 3-O-methylquercetin melts around 275 °C and crystallizes in a nonplanar conformation with an angle of 18.02° between the pyran ring (C) and the phenyl ring (B), unlike quercetin and luteolin, which are planar. Finally, the in vitro cytotoxicity of 3-O-methylquercetin was compared with data from quercetin, luteolin, and cisplatin, showing that structural differences influenced the antiproliferative activity and the selectivity against different tumor cell lines.

Links

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c05841

BibTex

@article{Silva_2023, doi = {10.1021/acsomega.3c05841}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1021%2Facsomega.3c05841}, year = 2023, month = {oct}, publisher = {American Chemical Society ({ACS})}, author = {Marianna C. Silva and Gracielle Cunha and Pollyana Firmino and Loide O. Sallum and Ant{\^{o}}nio Menezes and Jocely Dutra and Jo{\~{a}}o de Araujo-Neto and Alzir A. Batista and Javier Ellena and Hamilton B. Napolitano}, title = {Structural and Anticancer Studies of Methoxyflavone Derivative from $\less$i$\greater$Strychnos pseudoquina$\less$/i$\greater$ A.St.-Hil. (Loganiaceae) from Brazilian Cerrado}, journal = {{ACS} Omega} }