Article · Volume 2, Issue 6 · pp. 123–125

Chemical constituents and potential cytotoxicity of Hygrophorus agathosmus

E. Peneva¹, B. Trusheva², M. Gyosheva², P. Georgieva², S. Popova², V. Bankova²

¹Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
²Institute of Botany, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.

Abstract

The macromycete Hygrophorus agathosmus was found to be toxic to Artemia salina nauplii and the active chloroform fraction of the total extract was chemically studied. Several hydrocarbons, including paraffins, prystan, phytan, and squalene were identified. The sterol composition of this mushroom was analyzed for the first time, the main sterol being ergosterol. 5α, 8α-Epidioxi-24(ξ)-methylcholesta-6,22-diene-3β-ol was isolated for the first time from H. agathosmus. The presence of the latter compound, which might be regarded as an artifact obtained by oxidation of the corresponding ∆ 5,7 sterol, could provide at least partial explanation of the observed toxicity of the chloroform fraction.

Keywords: Hygrophorus agathosmus; A. salina toxicity; constituents

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