ABSTRACT
As a result of comparing the phenolic components of cinnamon medicines, the total phenolic component content of Cinnamomi Cortex in China was about 2.65 times higher than that of Cinnamomi Cortex in Vietnam. In addition, the total phenolic component content of Vietnamese Cinnamomi Cortex Spissus was about 1.80 times higher than that of Chinese Cinnamomi Cortex Spissus. Meanwhile, Vietnamese Cinnamomi Ramulus showed a content about 3.29 times higher than that of Chinese Cinnamomi Ramulus. Cinnamaldehyde, the main component of cinnamon medicines, showed the same tendency as the total phenolic component content. In terms of the average content of the total phenolic components, Cinnamomi Cortex showed the highest content at 23964 μg/g, followed by Cinnamomi Cortex Spissus at 17489 μg/g and Cinnamomi Ramulus at 5435.8 μg/g. These results showed that Cinnamomi Cortex and Cinnamomi Cortex Spissus with stem bark as usage sites had about 3.22 to 4.41 times higher content of phenolic components than Cinnamomi Ramulus with young branches as usage sites.
ABSTRACT
Bioactivity-guided fractionation of MeOH extract of the dried fruits of Amomum tsao-ko led to isolation of nine compounds (1 – 9). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including extensive 1D and 2D-NMR, as alpinetin (1), naringenin-5-O-methyl ether (2), naringenin (3), hesperetin (4), 2′,4′,6′-trihydroxy-4-methoxy chalcone (5), tsaokoin (6), boesenbergin B (7), 4-hydroxyboesenbergin B (8), and tsaokoarylone (9). Of these, compound 8 was isolated from a natural source for the first time, which was previously reported as a synthetic product. The isolated compounds (1 – 9) were tested for their inhibitory effects on LPS-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Among them, three chalcone derivatives (compounds 5, 7, and 8) and a diarylheptanoid (compound 9) exhibited significant inhibitory activity on the NO production with IC₅₀ values ranging from 10.9 to 22.5 µM.