Virginia FONSECA RIPOLL, Ángela P. HERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA, Mª Ángeles CASTRO GONZÁLEZ,Arturo SAN FELICIANO MARTÍN and Pablo A. GARCÍA GARCÍA*.

Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas, Área de Química Farmacéutica, Facultad de Farmacia, CIETUS, IBSAL,University of Salamanca. pabloagg@usal.es

Asteriscus aquaticus (L.) Less. is an odoriferous herbaceous plant from Compositae

family distributed through the Mediterranean area growing on calcareous soils. Its

soxhlet n-hexane extract was chemically studied in the early 80’s by San Feliciano et

al1. In that investigations, several sesquiterpenic unsaturated-g-lactones were

isolated. Different bioactive properties have been reported for natural compounds

possessing this structural feature2. We have recovered our interest for this plant

with the aim to complete the phytochemical study and to make a prospection of its

bioactive properties.

Introduction

[1] San Feliciano A, Barrero AF, Medarde M, Miguel del Corral JM and Aramburu A. The stereochemistry ofasteriscunolides. Tetrahedron 1985, 41 (23), 5711-5717.

[2] Merford I. Perspectives on sesquiterpene lactones in inflammation and cancer. Current Drug Targets 2011, 12(11), 1560-1573.

References

Mineco: Retos AGL2016-79813-C2-2-R (2017-2019) and Mineco CTQ2015-68175-R (2016-2018).Acknowledgements

Natural products from Asteriscus aquaticus

The hexane extract was dewaxed

and then fractionated using an

acid-base extraction. The com-

pounds detected in the hexane

dewaxed neutral fraction (HDN)

were purified using vacuum liquid

chromatography, preparative thin

layer chromatography and flash

column chromatography on silica

gel. The fractions and the isolated

compounds were analyzed by 1H

and 13C NMR, GC-MS and HRMS.

From powdered dry plant, five room temperature maceration extracts were

obtained with increasing polarity solvents (from hexane to aqueous

methanol), and then, an infusion with hot water.

Methods

The sesquiterpene-g-lactones asteriscunolides A-D, t-cadinol, triacylglycerols,

stigmasterol, campesterol and b-sitosterol were isolated and identified, along

with other compounds that are being characterized. The extracts and the

purified compounds have been prepared to be assayed on different in vitro

bioactivity tests: cytotoxicity against tumour cells, anti-inflammatory,

antifungal, antiparasitic (Leishmania or Teladorsagia) and antiviral (dengue).

Results