Triterpene glycosides from Silene odontopetala.

Silene species are known for their use in traditional medicine in treating several diseases. To the authors' knowledge there is no report on the chemical composition of S. odontopetala. Therefore, the phytochemical investigation of the methanol extract of S. odontopetala was carried out, leading to the isolation of six undescribed oleanane-type glycosides along with the known saponin azukisaponin IV. Their structures were elucidated by the analysis of 1D and 2D-NMR experiments, along with mass spectrometry analysis. The cytotoxic activity of oleanane-type saponins was evaluated against a small panel of cancer cell lines, including PC-3 (prostate carcinoma cells), MCF-7 (breast cancer cells), A549 (alveolar basal carcinoma cells), and HeLa (cervical carcinoma cells). Furthermore, the activity of isolated compounds against a normal cell line HEK-293, used for assessing their cytotoxicity, was evaluated.

Cycloartane and oleanane-type glycosides from Astragalus pennatulus.

Four new cycloartane and one new oleanane-type glycosides were isolated from Astragalus pennatulus along with five known cycloartane-type glycosides. The structures of the new compounds were established as 3-O-ß-D-xylopyranosyl-6-O-ß-D-glucopyranosyl-3ß,6α,16ß-trihydroxy-24-oxo-20(R),25-epoxycycloartane (1), 3-O-[ß-D-glucuronopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-ß-D-xylopyranosyl]-3ß,16ß,24α-trihydroxy-20(R),25-epoxycycloartane (2), 3-O-[ß-D-glucuronopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-ß-D-xylopyranosyl]-3ß,16ß,25-trihydroxy-20(R),24(S)-epoxycycloartane (3), 3,25-di-O-ß-D-glucopyranosyl-6-O-ß-D-xylopyranosyl-3ß,6α,16ß,25-tetrahydroxy-20(R),24(S)-epoxycycloartane (4), 29-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-abrisapogenol B (5) by 1D and 2D-NMR experiments along with ESIMS and HRMS analyses. The aglycone of compound 1, 3ß,6α,16ß-trihydroxy-24-oxo-20(R),25-epoxycycloartane, is reported for the first time. The cytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated against three cancer cell lines including A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma), A375 (human melanoma) and DeFew (human B lymphoma) cells. None of the tested compounds caused a significant reduction of the cell number.