Chemical constituents and anticancer properties of bioactive compounds from Macrosphyra longistyla (DC.) Hiern.

The phytochemical investigation of Macrosphyra longistyla (Rubiaceae) yielded five compounds: machaerogenin (1), β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2), 1-heneicosanol (3), stigmasterol (4) and oleanolic acid (5). Their structures were confirmed by FTIR, 1D/2D NMR, and HRMS-ESI analyses, and validated against literature data. These compounds are reported for the first time from this plant. They exhibited moderate anticancer activity and inhibited the proliferation of triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cells, with 15-23% inhibition of cell viability compared to the standard drug paclitaxel (PTX; 94%). The observed anticancer effects may support the plant's ethnomedicinal applications.