ANTITUMOR COMPONENTS ISOLATED FROM THE CHINESE HERBAL MEDICINE COIX LACHRYMA-JOBI

The seeds of the gramineous plant Coh lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen St apf are a traditional Chinese medicine possessing antitumor activity. An acetone extract of the seeds was fractionated by the aqueous alkali method and by silica gel column chromatography in order to identify t he antitumor components. Antitumor activity, as assayed by an in vivo growth inhibition test on a transplantable mouse tumor, was attributed to an acidic fraction. Infrared spectroscopy and gas-liquid chromatog raphy showed that this acidic fraction was composed of four free fatty acids: palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids.