Synthesis and evaluation of the cancer cell growth inhibitory activity of the ionic derivatives of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid with improved solubility

Formation of ionic derivatives from drugs provided a simple tool to tune physical properties including water solubility and biological activity of the drugs. Oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) are two ubiquitous isomeric triterpene phytochemicals with many pharmacological effects. But the poor water solubility greatly limits their clinical application. In order to improve the solubility of OA and UA, this research exploited a non-covalent...