Chlorinated Chalcones, Steroids and Piperine from the Roots of <i>Piper chaba</i> H. Growing in Bangladesh and Their Cytotoxicity on HeLa Cell Lines

Background Piper chaba is a common plant in Bangladesh. It is enriched with many important biologically active compounds and popular for traditional healing. Method The methanol extract of the root of P. chaba was fractionated into n -hexane and ethyl acetate soluble fractions. The ethyl acetate fraction was subjected to various chromatographic techniques to isolate the pure compounds. The structures of the compounds were elucidated with the aid of UV, IR, NMR, including 1 H, 13 C, DEPT-135, COSY, HSQC, HMBC, spectroscopy, and LC-MS. The isolated compounds were subjected to cytotoxicity assay using HeLa cell lines. Result β-sitosterol ( 1a ) with trace of stigmasterol ( 1b ), piperine ( 2 ), ergosterol peroxide ( 3 ), ( E )-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-(4-methylphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one ( 4 ), and ( E )-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one ( 5 ) were purified. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of isolation of the halogenated chalcone derivatives 4 and 5 from a natural source, whereas ergosterol peroxide ( 3 ) has not been reported from this plant before. Chalcones 4 and 5 showed significant cytotoxicity on HeLa cells.