Gossypium barbadense L. family Malvaceae has always been a major economic Egyptian crop known as cotton or white gold. The diverse folk medicinal uses and rich phytochemical content previously reported for the plant made it interesting to proceed in the following comparative study between the methanolic bolls and leaves extracts to reveal their polyphenolic content and compare their antioxidant and cytotoxic activities against different cancer cell lines.

The aim of this investigation is to identify the bioactive components in the methanol extracts of leaves and bolls, by using Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry (LC-ESI-Mass) of methanol extract from bolls , demonstrates the presence of bioactive phenolic compounds namely ; cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol, 6-methoxy-7 -hydroxycoumarin, rutin, (+)-gallocatechin , isoquercetin, kaempferol-3-sulfate, epigallocatechin gallate, hydroxybenzoic acid and isorhamnetin-3-O-glucuronide and from leaves extract indicate the presence of major compounds, kaempferol, quercetin-3-O-pentoside, kaempferol-3-sulfate, quercetin-3-O-β-glucoside , quercetin-3- O - (6- acetyl- β- glucoside), kaempferol-3-O-glucuronide, epigallocatechin gallate, aspalathin, kaempferol-3,7,4'-trimethyl ether, isorhamnetin-3-O-β-glucuronide and protocatechuic acid-3-O-glucoside.

Additionally, the methanolic extracts of bolls and leaves, were assessed for their in vitro anticancer effects on various three human cell lines, colon (HCT116), liver (HEPG2) and breast (MCF-7) and doxorubicin as the traditional anticancer drug was compared. The results showed that the methanol extract of leaves was more potent on liver (HEPG2) and breast (MCF7) cell lines than bolls extract. Regarding the colon (HCT116) cell line the leaves extract has less activity than the bolls extract.

The spectrophotometric techniques were used to examine the antioxidant potentials of G. barbadense extract, including their scavenging capacity and reduction potential. The result showed a strong antiproliferation/cytotoxicity index against cancer cell lines when extracted in methanol for both the bolls and leaves extracts.