According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015, only processed Aconitum tubers can be clinically applied, and the effect of processing is unclear. This research aimed to explore the effect of processing on cardiac efficacy of alkaloids in Aconitum tubers. First, the chemical ingredients in unprocessed and processed Aconitum tubers were identified and compared by using high performance liquid chrom...

Giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) is one of the most noxious invasive species in the world. Our bioactivity-guided fractionation of ethanol extract of giant salvinia led to the isolation of 50 compounds. Of the six new compounds (1-6), salviniol (1) is a rare abietane diterpene with a new ferruginol-menthol coupled skeleton and both salviniside I (2) and salviniside II (3) are novel benzofuran ...

Two new atisine-type diterpenoid alkaloids, beiwusine A (1) and B (2), have been isolated from the roots of Aconitum kusnezoffii Reichb. Their structures were established on the basis of spectroscopic data. Beiwusines A and B are the first examples of atisine-type diterpenoid alkaloids having a hydroxyl group at C-1. In addition, one known diterpenoid alkaloid spiramine H (3) has been isolated.

In the course of our research for biologically active constituents from coniferous plants, a chromone derivative (1) and an abietane derivative (2) were isolated along with several diterpenes from Chamaecyparis pisifera. Structures of the new compounds were determined to be 5,7-dihydroxy-2-(1-acetyl-2-methoxycarbonylethyl)-chromone and rel-(8R,10R,20S)-8,10,20-trihydroxy-9(10-->20)-abeo-abieta-...

Diterpenoid biosynthesis has been extensively studied in plants and fungi, yet cloning and engineering diterpenoid pathways in these organisms remain challenging. Bacteria are emerging as prolific producers of diterpenoid natural products, and bacterial diterpene synthases are poised to make significant contributions to our understanding of terpenoid biosynthesis. Here we will first survey dite...

Five novel cassane diterpenes (1-5) with activity against Trypanosoma cruzi were isolated from leaves of Myrospermum frutescens. The structures were determined as 18-hydroxycassan-13,15-diene (1), 6beta,18-dihydroxycassan-13,15-diene (2), 6beta-hydroxy-18-acetoxycassan-13,15-diene (3), 18-acetoxy-13,15-diene-19-cassanoic acid (4), and 6beta,13beta-dihydroxy-18-acetoxycassan-14(17),15-diene (5)....

Diterpenoid dimers are rare in nature and mainly found in higher plants including the families Acanthaceae, Annonaceae, Asteraceae, Calceolariaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Cupressaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Meliaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Taxaceae, Velloziaceae, and Zingiberaceae. In addition, a few diterpenoid dimers have been also reported from fungi (Psathyrellaceae), liverwo...

Several phytochemicals were shown to interfere with redox biology in the human system. Moreover, redox biochemistry is crucially involved in the orchestration of immunological cascades. When screening for immunomodulatory compounds, the two interferon gamma- (IFN-γ-) dependent immunometabolic pathways of tryptophan breakdown via indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO-1) and neopterin formation by G...

One new dimeric diterpenoid, 8(14)-enyl-pimar-2'(3')-en-4'(18')-en-15'(16')-endolabr- 16,15,2',3'-oxoan-16-one (1) and five known terpenoids: Tagalsin C (2), Tagalsin I (3), lup-20(29)-ene-3β,28-diol (4), 3-oxolup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (5) and 28-hydroxylup- 20(29)-en-3-one (6) were isolated from the roots of the mangrove plant Ceriops tagal. Their structures and relative stereochemistry were e...