Although a number of chemicals have been isolated from Lantana Camara, only a few have been evaluated for their biological significance. As part of our drug discovery program for cytotoxic agents from Indian medicinal plants, roots of L. camara L. were chemically investigated, which resulted in the isolation and identification of a cytotoxic agent, oleanolic acid (1b) as a major constituent. Oleanolic acid was converted into six semisynthetic ester (2-7) and seven amide (8-14) derivatives. The ester derivatives (2-7) showed 3-6 times more selective activity than 1b against the human ovarian cancer cell line (IGR-OV-1), while amide derivatives 8-14 showed 16-53 times more selective activity against the human lung cancer cell line (HOP-62). Structure activity relationship within the ester (2-7) and amide (8-14) derivatives are discussed.
