The Faculty of Pharmacy discussed the dissertation under the title ( Study of Phytochemistry and Assessment of Anti-toxic Activity of Cancer Cells of the Iraqi Cypress Plant) for the student Amani Amer Tawfiq in the pharmacognosy and medicinal plants department and her supervisor, Professor Dr. Shatha Hussein Ali. The aims of this work are focused on isolation, identification, and qualitative and quantitative analysis after extraction of phytochemicals using two different methods (Ultrasound Assisted Extraction and Soxhlet) from Cupressus sempervirens grown in Iraq. Furthermore, isolation and estimation of essential oils were performed by two different methods (steam distillation and hydrodistillation) and two different growth stages (ripe and unripe) for plant leaves and fruits, and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass. The cytotoxicity effect was assayed for the ethyl acetate and n- hexane fractions of leaves against human breast cancer cells using a colorimetric-MTT assay. The results show the highest extract yield resulted from ultrasound-assisted extraction compared to Soxhlet. Furthermore, good percentage yields of essential oil were obtained approximately 0.73% from leaves and 0.54% from ripe fruits. Furthermore, with a concentration of 0.70%, the main component is amentoflavone. Hence, the cytotoxicity findings reveal good activity on human breast cancer cells with a half maximum inhibition concentration of about 6.66 µg/ml for the ethyl acetate fraction, which has been related to the presence of several bioactive phenolic constituents such as biflavanoids. Finally, according to good findings, the Iraqi soil and environment may be suitable for this plant species.
