Cytotoxic furanogermacranolides from the flowers of Helianthus angustifolius.

The dichloromethane extract of the flowers of Helianthus angustifolius L. (Asteraceae, Heliantheae) was investigated in vitro for its cytotoxic activity using human cancer cell lines: CCRF-CEM leukemia, MDA-MB-231 breast cancer, U251 glioblastoma, HCT 116 colon cancer cells, and the human lung fibroblast cell line MRC-5. Cytotoxicity-guided fractionation led to the isolation of four related heliangolide-type sesquiterpene lactones. The structures were elucidated by means of NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Of the investigated compounds, 8-methacrylyl-4,15-iso-atriplicolide (1) showed the highest activity against all tested cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.26 ± 0.01 µM for CCRF-CEM cells to 4.22 ± 0.26 µM for MRC-5 cells.