JAKARTA – The national research and innovation board (BRIN) is conducting a research on blending citronella active compounds and palm oil as potential raw material to produce anti-cancer medicine.

Galuh Widiyarti, a researcher of the medicinal raw materials and traditional medicines research center of BRIN, said that lemongrass contains citronellol and geraniol compounds which have properties of anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-parasite, and cytotoxic to some cancer cells.

“The research is expected to increase Indonesia’s self-sufficiency in producing medicinal raw materials from medicinal plants to support the country’s pharmaceutical industry,” he said in a press release in Jakarta on Thursday, 25 May 2023.

BRIN said that through the research they will produce derivatives of ester compounds, namely citronellol and geraniol ester. The two compounds will then undergo a docking process with Pim1 kinase and MVD and 6frb docking with AutoDock 4.2.

The synthesis will produce citronellol and geraniol esterification by using carbocylic acid contained in palm oil. Further process will be purification, identification, toxicity test using BSLT and in vitro test of cytotoxicity against cancer cells MCF7 (alamar blue) and vero cells (MTT).

A number of results from the research include citronellol and geraniol ester as the synthetic result of cytotoxicity against cancer cells of murine leukemia P388, aliphatic ester compound (new cytronellol ester), which are potential as anti-cancer compound and ADME trait analysis and druglikeness as potential candidate to become medicine.

In silico study using AutoDock 4.2 program shows that ester (CIB and GIB) is potential as antimicrobial.

In vitro test result shows that the two ester compounds have antimicrobial activity stronger than acid compound, so that the two ester compounds are potential for further development to become anti-biotic compound. (*)

Source: sawitku.id