Cytotoxic Triterpenoid from Rubus coreanus Miq

Dried unripe fruits of Rubus coreanus Miq. were extracted with 80% aqueous MeOH and the concentrated extract was partitioned with EtOAc and $H_2O$. From the EtOAc fraction, four triterpenoids were isolated through repeated silica gel, ODS and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatographies. From the result of physico-chemical data including NMR, MS aud IR, the chemical structures of the compounds were determined as tormentic acid (1), myrianthic acid (2), hovenic acid (3) and 2${\alpha}$,3${\beta}$,19${\beta}$,23-tetrahydroxylolean-12-en-28-oic acid (4). Compounds 3 and 4 were isolated for the first time from this plant. All isolated compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against human colon carcinoma cells using in vitro three-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, compound 3 showed a higher cytotoxicity ($IC_{50}$ = 7.8 ${\mu}M$) than doxorubicin ($IC_{50}$= 50 ${\mu}M$).