Maslinic acid (2α, 3β-dihydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid), a natural dihydroxylated pentacyclic triterpene acid isolated from olive-pressing residues, has been investigated together with some of its derivatives regarding the induction of apoptosis in B16F10 melanoma cells. Some of the compounds tested are described in this work, but others come from previous studies. Ten of these derivatives induce over 80% of apoptosis, clearly ...