Study on the Partial Chemical Composition of Ethyl Acetate in Bawang Whip
Euphorbia L. is a plant species in the Euphorbiaceae family, with most species belonging to traditional Chinese medicinal herbs. Euphorbia royleana Boiss is a plant in the Euphorbiaceae family, belonging to the Euphorbiaceae genus, and has a small toxin. According to literature reports, this plant contains secondary metabolites such as diterpenes, triterpenes, steroids, and phenolic compounds. There are records indicating that the Bawang whip has the effects of dispelling wind, reducing inflammation, preventing corrosion, and killing bacteria. Its latex can also be used to fill decayed teeth and resist infections; In addition, literature has reported that the ethyl acetate extract of Bawang whip has significant anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antipyretic effects.

At present, research on the chemical composition of Bawang whip mainly focuses on its latex, and the reported compounds are mainly diterpenes and triterpenes, while pharmacological activity research is relatively scarce. The brine worm model is a method developed by Meyer et al. for rapid determination of sample toxicity and screening of bioactive substances. The specific method involves incubating brine worm eggs in seawater under light conditions, selecting hatched brine worm larvae based on phototaxis, placing them in an orifice plate, and adding samples of different concentrations to test the lethality of the newly hatched brine worms, thereby obtaining the LD50. This model is widely used in biochemical research and is beneficial for initial screening of a large number of samples. Sasidharan et al. also used a halogenated insect model to conduct experiments on the lethal activity of methanol extracts from the medicinal plant Euphorbiaceae, Euphorbiaceae. The experimental results showed that the methanol crude extracts from the flowers and roots of Euphorbiaceae had biological toxicity, and this study also found a positive correlation between the lethal rate of halogenated insects and the concentration of methanol crude extracts from Euphorbiaceae; Meyer compared the ethanol extracts of 41 Euphorbiaceae plant seeds and found that 14 Euphorbiaceae plant seeds have cytotoxic activity against Artemia; Barth et al. used a halogenated insect model to evaluate the biological toxicity of ethanol extracts from the Euphorbiaceae plant, the Croton tree. The experimental results showed that the ethanol extract of Croton tree had significant biological toxicity; However, there have been no reports on the lethal activity of the secondary metabolites of the Tyrannosaurus rex. In order to fully develop and utilize the resources of Bawang whip, this experiment studied the chemical composition and lethal activity of the entire Bawang whip plant.

This study investigated the chemical composition and pharmacological activity of Bawang whip. Fifteen compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of its methanol extract, including triterpenes (1-5), flavonoids (6-8), steroids (9-11), phenols (12), fatty alcohols (13), linear diterpenes (14), and fatty acids (15). Compounds 1-14 were studied for their lethal activity against halogenated insects, and the experimental results showed that all compounds 1-14 exhibited lethal activity against halogenated insects. Among them, compound 4 had stronger activity with an LD50 of 7.687 μ M, and compounds 8 (steroids) and 14 (linear diterpenes) had better effects than compound 3 (triterpenes). Compared to previous studies that only investigated the chemical composition of the latex part of the Euphorbiaceae plant, and the lethal activity of halophilic plants in the Euphorbiaceae family was limited to methanol or ethanol extracts, this study also investigated the chemical composition of other parts of the Euphorbiaceae plant, and the lethal activity of halophilic plants was preliminarily studied for individual compounds, which to some extent enriched the chemical composition of the Euphorbiaceae plant and the pharmacological activity research of Euphorbiaceae plants. In order to develop and utilize the plant resources reasonably, it is necessary to conduct further systematic research on the active ingredients in the Bawang whip, deeply explore its activity mechanism, and carry out in vivo activity verification. This study provides material and theoretical support for subsequent research on the biological activity of plants in the genus Euphorbia and Euphorbia.