Cytotoxic Effect of Flavonoids from the Roots of Glycyrrhiza uralensis on Human Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

The roots of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. were extd. with 30% aq. ethanol (EtOH), and the concd. ext. was partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform (CHCl3), Et acetate (EtOAc), n-butanol (n-BuOH), and H2O, successively. From the CHCl3 fraction, four flavonoids were isolated through the repeated silica gel (SiO2), octadecyl silica gel (ODS), and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatogs. (c.c). According to the results of spectroscopic data including NMR spectrometry (NMR), electron ionization mass spectrometry (EI/MS), and IR spectroscopy, the chem. structures of the compds. were detd. as glabrol (1), abyssinone II (2), glabridin (3), and isoliquiritigenin (4). The flavonoids were evaluated for cytotoxic effect against human cancer cell lines, HCT-116, HepG2, HeLa, SK-OV-3, SK-BR-3, MCF-7, and SK-MEL-5. Esp., glabrol (1) and glabridin (2) showed IC50 values of lower than 25 μM. [on SciFinder(R)]