Chemical constituents from Colchicum palaestinum (Baker) C. Archer with the assessment of its antioxidant, wound scratch, and tyrosinase repressive potential

Plant-natural products are used in several cosmetic applications as whitening agents. However, various Colchicum species rich in bioactive secondary metabolites that possess antioxidant and significant anti-tyrosinase activities. Nevertheless, there are few phytochemical investigations with no reports of biological assessment of Colchicum palaestinum (Baker) C. Archer (Colchicaceae). Consequently, the aqueous methanol (AM) extract of the whole plant of C. palaestinum has been subjected to relevant biological activities; antioxidant, wound healing, and anti-tyrosinase assays. Where AM extract showed DPPH radical scavenging inhibition at 71.8%, with an IC50 of 66.0 µg/mL. The wound scratch assay revealed a migration rate 11.7% of the human normal fibroblast cell line (BJ-1) while, the anti-tyrosinase IC50 activity value of the extract on the l-tyrosine substrate was 29.75±4.60 µg/mL compared to kojic acid (control) with IC50 47.48±2.67 µg/mL. For inclusive phytochemical profiling of C. palaestinum whole plant, AM extract was fractionated using petroleum ether (PE) afforded, PE fraction, and defatted aqueous methanol (DAM) extract. PE fraction was investigated by GC/MS analysis and led to the detection of 35 compounds. Similarly, the UPLC-MS/MS analysis of DAM extract assisted with molecular networking through the GNPS platform, revealing the annotation of 65 metabolites. Besides, nine phenolics were isolated and identified from the DAM extract. Except for two compounds, all non-polar and polar constituents were reported for the first time in the investigated species. These findings imply that due to its chemical constituents, C. palaestinum meets the requirements as a competitive antioxidant andwound healing with anti-tyrosinase properties. [Display omitted] •About forty-two nonpolar and polar compounds were reported for the first time from Colchicum palaestinum.•Chemical constituents of C. palaestinum achieved requirements as a competitive antioxidant and wound healing with anti-tyrosinase properties.•The extract could be effective for many cosmetic formulations and to standardize Colchicum-based drugs.•The significant biological potential of this rare plant can induce large-scale cultivation.