ABSTRACT
By means of liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization (LC-ESI) mass spectrometry two glucosinolates, glucoiberin and 3-hydroxy,4(α-L-rhamnopyranosyloxy) benzyl glucosinolate, were identified in the aqueous extract of Brassica oleraceae L var. italica. Further, two compounds were isolated after enzymatic hydrolysis of the aqueous extract by myrosinase, one of them was identified as 4-vinyl-3-pyrazolidinone. The second compound (sulphoraphane) 1-isothiocyanate-4-methyl-sulphinyl butane, converted to the most stable form of thiourea (sulphoraphane thiourea). The crude extract (80% alcohol extract) of broccoli florets was examined for cytotoxic activity against different human cancer cell lines, it showed good inhibition of colon cancer (IC(50) 3.88 µg/mL). On the other hand each of the successive extracts (petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and ethanol) showed no significant cytotoxic activity. When myrosinase hydrolysate was tested for cytotoxic activity on the colon cancer cell line it showed very high activity - 95% lethality up to 0.78 µg/mL.
