Records of Natural Products

Nine known compounds were isolated from the P. serrata roots and showed promising inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase. The molecular docking study of them was exhibited the 4-hydroxyl group in the aromatic ring of benzoic acid derivatives improves the bioactivity. Network pharmacology was performed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of isolated compounds and suggested that the insulin resistance pathway would be a primary mechanism of action. This is the first time the α-glucosidase inhibitors of P. serrata roots were reported.

Exploratory research was carried out on the ethyl acetate extract derived from the soft coral Capnella imbricata, sourced from the southeastern waters of Taiwan. This investigation yielded the isolation of three sterol-related compounds (1–3). Among these compounds, one previously unidentified metabolite, designated as 4β-hydroxy-24-methylene-5-cholesten-7-one (1), was discovered, along with two known metabolites, namely, 3β-hydroxy-24-methylene-5-cholesten-7-one (2) and gorgostan-5,25-dien-3β-ol (3). The structures of these isolated metabolites were determined through comprehensive spectroscopic analyses. Furthermore, the relative stereochemistry of metabolite 3 was established for the first time in this study using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The potential anti-inflammatory properties of metabolites 1–3 were evaluated by investigating their ability to suppress the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) proteins in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophage cells.

Three crude polysaccharides of RCP-A, B, and C were derived from the rhizome of Rohdea chinensis by means of hot water extraction, gradient ethanol precipitation and dialysis. Three different polysaccharides of RCP-C1-1, RCP-C1-2, and RCP-C1-3 were isolated using cellulose DEAE-52 and Sephadex G-200 chromatography from RCP-C. The average molecular weights of RCP-C1-1, RCP-C1-2, and RCP-C1-3 were measured as 1.51×104, 1.06×104, and 4.86×103 by means of MALDI-TOF MS and UHPGC, respectively. All three polysaccharides were found to consist of D-fructose and D-glucose following hydrolysis and comparison with literature data. Based on FT-IR and NMR analysis, the polysaccharides were identified as inulin-type fructans, with their backbone composed of α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-(β-D-fructofuranosyl)n-(1→2)-β-D-fructofuranoside (nRCP-C1-1=79, nRCP-C1-2=58, nRCP-C1-3=27). The anti-tumor activity of the polysaccharides (RCP-A, B, and C) was evaluated in H22 tumor-bearing mice. The results suggested that the polysaccharides (RCP-A, RCP-B, and RCP-C) inhibited the growth of H22 hepatocellular. Further, the treated groups of RCP-A, RCP-B, and RCP-C exhibited improvements in body weight as well as spleen/thymus indexes in H22 tumor-bearing mice.

One new cyclonerane sesquiterpene, 9,11-cycloneren-3,7-diol (1), along with four known ones, 11-cycloneren-3,7,10-triol (2), 9-cycloneren-3,7,11-triol (3), 11-methoxy-9-cycloneren-3,7-diol (4), and cyclonerodiol (5), were obtained from the extract of marine-derived fungus Trichoderma harzianum WH-22. The structure of 9,11-cycloneren-3,7-diol (1) was elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D/2D NMR and HRESIMS data. 9,11-Cycloneren-3,7-diol (1) exhibited weak cytotoxicity against HeLa and HepG2 cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 68.2 and 59.7 μM, respectively.