Introduction

1. Marco CalvoMS.c (UNIBE), Eduardo Arguedas PhD (UNIBE), Ana J. González (UNIBE) Aaron Matthews (SUNY Oswego), Lyndon Flynn-Roach (SUNY Oswego) Introduction Objective The leaves and bark of Annonamuricata L. contain a class of compounds called aceogenins, which are cytotoxic to cancer cells. Most acetogenins block the complex I in the mitochondria, which is responsible for the conversion of NADH–NAD and the build-up of a proton gradient. This build-up halts the production of ATP thus leading to apoptosis of cancer cells. With sufficient evidence that this compound has anti-cancer properties, it is possible to prepare an extract of annonacin from Soursop in order to assess its cancer-fighting properties. Theory and Methods Acetogenins (including annonacin) present in Soursop seeds were extracted to assess the anti-cancer properties. Ultraviolet, infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromatograph-mass spectroscopy were used post-experiment in order to determine the structure of the compound(s). The procedures included refluxing, vacuum filtration to obtain a pure liquid sample, column chromatography to isolate the specific compounds within the sample, thin-layer chromatography for qualitative comparison, and finally the GC-MS analysis. Figure 2. Column Chromatography Figure 1. Rotary Evaporator Results Acetogenins contain multiple hydroxyl groups, a cyclic ester (lactone), tetrahydrofuran, and varying aliphatic alkyl chain. Using these characteristic functional groups, it is possible to confirm or deny the presence of acetogenins. The gas chromatography results gave a list of possible compounds in the sample. The database, however, had no acetogenins present therefore acetogenins may have been present but, however, not detected. Figure 4. GC-MS Results It cannot be concluded that annonacin shown in figure 3 was isolated; due to their being no evidence of acetogenins present. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy results for the methanol solution containing the sample. No tetrahydrofuran groups were present, meaning there were no acetogenins in the sample. Figure 3. Structure of an acetogenin Conclusion References Acknowledgements There is no evidence that any acetogenins were isolated from the original sample. Using a more refined column chromatography procedure with more specific solvents would have given a better separation that likely would’ve yielded acetogenins • Aminimoghadamfarouj, N., Nematollahi, A., & Wiart, C. (2011). “Annonaceae: bio-resource for tomorrow's drug discovery”. Journal Of Asian Natural Products Research, 13(5), 465-476. doi:10.1080/10286020.2011.570265