The components and anticancer activity of the volatile oil from Streblus asper

Abstract

The volatile oil from fresh leaves of Streblus asper Lour. was isolated by hydrodistillation and analysed through a combination of gas chromatography with FID (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The essential oil was obtained in 0.005% yield as a brown liquid. The major constituents of the volatile oil of S. asper were phytol (45.1%), α-farnesene (6.4%), trans-farnesyl acetate (5.8%), caryophyllene (4.9%) and trans-trans-α-farnesene (2.0%). In addition, the volatile oil showed significant anticancer activity (ED50 ≪ 30 μg/ml) from cytotoxicity primary screening tests with P388 (mouse lymphocytic leukaemia) cells but no significant antioxidant activity (IC50 values of ≫100 μg/ml) in a DPPH radical scavenging assay. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.