Two new triterpenoids from the roots of Phyllanthus emblica.

Two new triterpenes, the seco-friedelane type secofriedelanophyllemblicine and the ursane-derived saponin ursophyllemblicoside were isolated from the roots of the edible fruit-producing Phyllanthus emblica. Their structures were unambiguously elucidated using extensive 1D and 2D NMR analyses, high resolution mass spectrometry and single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analyses along with comparison with literature data. Secofriedelanophyllemblicine represents the first 3,4-secofriedelane bearing a carboxylic acid group substituent at C-20. Ursophyllemblicoside, incorporating the rare 21α hydroxyursolic acid as a sapogenol represents the first example of saponin comprising this aglycone. Secofriedelanophyllemblicine displayed a moderate cytotoxicity against K562 and HepG2 cancer cell lines.

A new dihydrofurocoumarin from the fruits of Pandanus tectorius Parkinson ex Du Roi.

From the fruit of Pandanus tectorius Parkinson ex Du Roi, one new dihydrofurocoumarin, named pandanusin A (1) and 15 known compounds, including one furanocoumarin (2), two coumarins (3, 4), four lignans (5-8), one neolignan (9), two flavonoids (10, 11), three phenolics (12-14), one monoglyceride (15) and one monosaccharide (16) were isolated by various chromatography methods. Among them, compounds (3-5) were obtained from the Pandanus genus for the first time and compounds (9-14, 16) were reported from this species for the first time. Their structures were elucidated by HR-ESI-MS, NMR 1D and 2D experiments and comparison with previous reported data. The α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of all compounds was measured. The isolated compounds (1-12, 14) showed better α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50 = 42.2, 36.5, 84.7, 73.2, 40.8, 26.7, 76.5, 33.8, 68.1, 14.4, 22.1, 81.5, 43.8 µM, respectively) than the standard drug acarbose (IC50 = 214.5 µM).

New furoquinoline alkaloids from the leaves of Evodia lepta.

Three new furoquinoline alkaloids, leptanoines A-C (1-3) along with three known compounds (4-6) were isolated from the leaves of Evodia lepta. Their structures were identified by interpretation of their spectroscopic data as well as comparison with those reported in the literature. In addition, all isolated compounds were evaluated for their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activities. Compound 4 showed the highest inhibitory activity towards BChE with an IC50 value of 47.9 µM. On the other hand, Compound 5 showed the highest inhibitory activity towards AChE with an IC50 value of 69.1 µM.

New rotenoids and coumaronochromonoids from the aerial part of Boerhaavia erecta.

From the aerial part of Boerhaavia erecta L., three new rotenoids (3, 8, 10) and two new coumaronochromonoids (6, 11) were isolated, together with ten known compounds. The structure of the new compounds was established by one dimensional (1D)- and 2D-NMR spectroscopy, as well as high resolution-electrospray ionization (HR-ESI)-MS analysis. The absolute configuration of compound 11 was determined by UV circular dichroism spectroscopy. Compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against HeLa (human epithelial carcinoma), NCI-H460 (human lung cancer) and MCF-7 (human breast cancer) cell lines at the concentration of 100 µg/mL. Rotenoids 3, 4 and 5 showed a strong cytotoxic activity against HeLa cell line and rotenoids 5 and 8 showed good activity against MCF-7 cell line.