Bioactive Dihydro-β-agarofuran Sesquiterpenoids from the Australian Rainforest Plant Maytenus bilocularis

J Nat Prod. 2016 May 27;79(5):1445-53. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.6b00190. Epub 2016 Apr 27.

Abstract

Chemical investigations of the CH2Cl2 extract obtained from the leaves of the Australian rainforest tree Maytenus bilocularis afforded three new dihydro-β-agarofurans, bilocularins A-C (1-3), and six known congeners, namely, celastrine A (4), 1α,6β,8α-triacetoxy-9α-benzoyloxydihydro-β-agarofuran (5), 1α,6β-diacetoxy-9α-benzoyloxy-8α-hydroxydihydro-β-agarofuran (6), Ejap-10 (11), 1α,6β-diacetoxy-9β-benzoyloxydihydro-β-agarofuran (12), and Ejap-2 (13). The major compound 1 was used in semisynthetic studies to afford four ester derivatives (7-10). The chemical structures of 1-3 were elucidated following analysis of 1D/2D NMR and MS data. The absolute configurations of bilocularins A (1) and B (2) were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. All compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against the human prostate cancer cell line LNCaP; none of the compounds were active. However, several compounds showed similar potency to the drug efflux pump inhibitor verapamil in reversing the drug resistance of the human leukemia CEM/VCR R cell line. In addition, similar to verapamil, compound 5 was found to inhibit leucine uptake in LNCaP cells (IC50 = 15.5 μM), which was more potent than the leucine analogue 2-aminobicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2-carbocyclic acid. This is the first report of secondary metabolites from Maytenus bilocularis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Australia
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Humans
  • Maytenus / chemistry*
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Molecular Structure
  • Rainforest
  • Sesquiterpenes / chemistry
  • Sesquiterpenes / isolation & purification*
  • Sesquiterpenes / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Sesquiterpenes
  • dihydroagarofuran