The essential oil of roots of Jatropha ribifolia, obtained by hydrodistillation, was characterized in terms of its chemical composition by chromatographic method with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled to electron ionization mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The analyses and identification pointed by mass fragmentation pattern and retention index revealed the presence of 49 compounds, representing 91.4% of the total oil, with 39.5% of monoterpenes, 43.0% of sesquiterpenes and 8.5% of phenylpropanoids. The major compounds of the oil were β-pinene (9.2%), isoeugenol methyl ether (8.5%), vatirenene (8.4%), α-gurjunene (7.0%), endo-8-hydroxy-cycloisolongifolene (6.6%), α-pinene (6.4%) and p-menth-1-en-8-ol (5.2%). The fractionation by preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC) allowed obtaining five fractions (F1-F5) with different compound contents from the original oil. Some essential oil components showed a significant increase in their levels after fractionation, as borneol (17.9%, F1), 3-thujopsanone (19.1%, F4), isoeugenol methylether (21.2%, F2), 8-oxo-9H-cycloisolongifolene (21.4%, F4), 8-cis-5(1H)-azulenone,2,4,6,7,8,8a-hexahydro-3,8-dimethyl-4-(1-methylethylidene) (23.1%, F4) e endo-8-hydroxy-cycloisolongifolene (38.6%, F2). These fractions and oil were tested in vitro against nine human cancer cell lines by sulforhodamine B assay. The Jatropha oil was more effective in inhibiting the growth of cells NCI-H460 (drug resistant ovarian; GI50 6.2 µg mL–1) and OVCAR-3 (ovarian; GI508.0 µg mL–1). The cancer cells line PC-3 (prostate) was more sensitive to the effects of the fractions showing significant values of GI50 such as for fraction F1, F2 and F4 (< 0.25 µg mL–1). In general the antiproliferative activity of the fractions was more pronounced than that of crude oil.

The cytotoxicity of a hexanic fraction produced from the ethanolic crude extract, obtained from Jatropha ribifolia (Pohl) Baill, Euphorbiaceae, roots was evaluated against ten human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, NCI-ADR/RES, OVCAR-3, PC-3, HT-29, NCI-H460,786-O, UACC-62, K-562, U251) compared with doxorrubicine as positive control. Compounds jatrophone and cyperenoic acid were isolated from the hexanic extract and characterized by spectroscopic techniques (NMR of ¹H, 13C and IR). The in vitro antiproliferative activity of jatrophone showed selectivity in a concentration dependent way with Total Inhibition growth of: glioma 0.57 µg mL-1 (U251), breast cancer 9.2 µg mL-1 (MCF-7), adriamycin-resistant ovarian cancer 0.96 µg mL-1 (NCI-ADR/RES), kidney 4.2 µg mL-1 (786-0), prostate cancer 8.4 µg mL-1 (PC-3), colon cancer 16.1 µg mL-1 (HT29) and leukemia 0.21 µg mL-1 (K-562).

In view of anticancer activity of 7 β-acetoxywithanolide D (2) and 7β-16α-diacetoxywithonide D (3), isolated from the leaves of Acnistus arborescens (Solanaceae), five withanolide derivatives were obtained and their structures were determined by NMR, MS and IV data analysis. The in vitro anticancer activity of these derivatives was evaluated in a panel of cancer cell lines: human breast (BC-1), human lung (Lu1), human colon (Col2) and human oral epidermoid carcinoma (KB). Compounds 2a (acetylation of 2), 3b (oxidation of 3) and 2c (hydrogenation of 2) exhibited the highest anticancer activity against human lung cancer cells, with ED50 values of 0.19, 0.25 and 0.63 μg/mL, respectively.