Phytochemical Investigation on Euphorbia macrostegia (Persian wood spurge)

Euphorbia macrostegia or Persian wood spurge is one of the seventeen endemic plants of this genus in Iran. Three triterpenoids: 24-methylenecycloartan-3β-ol (1), butyrospermol (2) and cycloartenol (3) and three diglycerides: 1,2-di-O-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (4), 1-O-linoleoyl-3-O-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol (5) and 1-O-α-linolenoyl-2-O-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol (6) were isolated from a hexane layer of methanol and dichloromethane extract of the aerial parts of Euphorbia macrostegia Boiss. The structures of all compounds were elucidated using different spectroscopy methods including, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HSQC, HMBC, EI-MS and IR. The triterpenes and the unsaturated fatty acids moieties of the diglycerides isolated from the plant were reported previously to have analgesic, anticancer, bactericidal and antifungal activity. Here we show that E. macrostegia is a new source for the above mentioned biologically active compounds.