Alcea rosea L. is widely cultivated in gardens of Egypt as an ornamental plant and it has a great history of folkloric medicinal uses. In the present work, phytochemical investigation of the alcoholic extract of the flowers of A. rosea L. led to the isolation of six flavonoids (1-6). Dihydrokaempferol-4'-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (1), dihydrokaempferol (2), kaempferol-3-O-[6″-(E-coumaroyl)]-β-d-glucopyranoside (3), kaempferol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (4), Apigenin (5) and kaempferol-3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1'″→6″)-β-d-glucopyranoside (6). Four of the isolated compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant, immunostimulant and cytotoxic activities against HepG-2 cell line. Compound (3) showed potent cytotoxic activity against HepG-2 cell line with high selectivity towards hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro (with IC50 = 3.8 μg/mL). Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited significant antioxidant activity and compound 4 showed a significant immune stimulant activity. Compound 1 is isolated for the first time from genus Alcea and this is the first report for its biological investigation.
Keywords: Alcea rosea L.; HepG-2; antioxidant; cytotoxic; flavonoids; immunostimulant; phytochemical.