A new cytotoxic coumarin, 7-[(E)-3',7'-dimethyl-6'-oxo-2',7'-octadienyl] oxy coumarin, from the leaves of Zanthoxylum schinifolium.

A new coumarin, 7-[(E)-3',7'-dimethyl-6'-oxo-2',7'-octadienyl]oxy coumarin (1), together with three known compounds, schinilenol (2), schinindiol (3) and 7-[(E)-7'-hydroxy-3',7'-dimethylocta-2',5'-dienyloxy]-coumarin (4) were isolated from the methylene chloride fraction of Z. schinifolium by normal and reverse phase column chromatographies. Their structures were determined on the basis of physical and spectroscopic evidences. Compound 1 (IC(50) 8.10 µM) showed potent cytotoxicity compared to auraptene (IC(50) 55.36 µM) against Jurkat T cells. The other isolated compounds 2 and 4 exhibited weak cytotoxicities.