6,9-Dihydroxy-3(15)-caryophyllen-4,8-dione (1), a new cytotoxic caryophyllane sesquiterpene, was isolated from fermentations of a tropical Marasmius species. The structure was established by spectroscopic methods. 1 exhibits strong cytotoxic effects on different cell lines, but only weak antimicrobial activities. 1 weakly inhibits the incorporation of leucine and thymidine into proteins and DNA...

A sample of the marine brown alga D. divaricata collected off the coast of Yantai (P.R. China) was dried, powdered, and extracted with the mixture of CHCl(3) and MeOH (1:1, v/v). By a combination of silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and preparative TLC, a new cadinane sesquiterpene 1,4-epoxymuurolan-5beta-ol (1) was isolated from this species. Its structure was established by ...

Sesquiterpenoids, and specifically sesquiterpene lactones from Asteraceae, may play a highly significant role in human health, both as part of a balanced diet and as pharmaceutical agents, due to their potential for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and cancer. This review highlights the role of sesquiterpene lactones endogenously in the plants that produce them, and explores mechanisms b...

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) sesquiterpene lactones were recently shown to be derived from a common sesquiterpene intermediate, (+)-germacrene A. Germacrene A is of interest because of its key role in sesquiterpene lactone biosynthesis and because it is an enzyme-bound intermediate in the biosynthesis of a number of phytoalexins. Using polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers, we have i...

Pseudotutin previously isolated from Coriaria japonica A. GRAY was revealed to be a molecular compound consisting of equimolar tutin (2) and a new related sesquiterpene lactone, corianin (3). Corianin was also isolated together with coriamyrtin (1), tutin (2) and coriatin (4), from Loranthus parasiticus MERR., a parasitic plant that grows on the twigs of Coriaria sinica MAXIM. The structure of ...

The chromatographic separation of a methylene chloride extract of Artemisia rubripes led to the isolation of a new sesquiterpene lactone (3), together with four known compounds, a coumarin (2) and three terpenes (1, 4, and 5). Their structures were characterized to be 1beta,6alpha-dihydroxy-4(15)-eudesmene (1), scopoletin (2), 1alpha,4beta-dihydroxy-8alpha-acetoxy-guaia-2,10(14), 11(13)-triene-...

Following the characterization of hypoglycemic, gastric emptying inhibitory, and gastroprotective principles and the structure elucidation of calendasaponins A, B, C, and D, two new ionone glucosides (officinosides A and B), and two sesquiterpene oligoglycosides (officinosides C and D), were isolated from the flowers of Egyptian Calendula officinalis. The structures of the officinosides were el...

Five new derivatives (2-6) were semi-synthesized using compound 1, a dihydro-β-agarofuran sesquiterpene with C-2 ketone obtained from Parnassia wightiana, as the starting material by acylation, oxidation, reduction, esterification, and amination, respectively. Structures of 2-6 were confirmed by 1D- and 2D-NMR and HR-ESI-MS spectra. In addition, antifeedant activities of these compounds (1-6) w...

Main aim is to evaluate the genotoxic potentials of three classes of natural products, a sesquiterpene lactone (cynaropicrin), a saponin (stigmast-7en-3 -ol-glucopyranoside) and a steroid (stigmasterol), at low doses, using the Homozygotization Index test (HI). This short-term test, deals with the determination of alterations in mitotic crossing-over frequencies eventually involving heterozygou...