The cytotoxicity and chemical constituents of the hexane fraction of Typhonium flagelliforme (Araceace)

The plant, Typhonium flagelliforme (Araceae), commonly known as the "rodent tuber" in Malaysia, is often used as an essential ingredient of herbal remedies for alternative cancer therapies. The hexane extract of this plant was evaluated for cytotoxic activity against in vitro culture on P388 murine leukaemia cells and showed weak IC(50) of 15 microg/ml. The partial chemical constituents were identified as methyl esters of hexadecanoic acid, octadecanoic acid, 9-octadecenoic acid and 9,12-octadecadienoic acid. In addition, several common aliphatics were identified as dodecane, tridecane, tetradecane, pentadecane, hexadecane, heptadecane, octadecane, nonadecane and eicosane. The unique methyl ester of 13-phenyltridecanoic acid was isolated and positively identified using spectroscopic methods. None of the identified compounds showed or are known to have cytotoxic behaviour.