Anti-inflammatory flavonoid derivatives from the heartwood of Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen.

Two pairs of flavonoid enantiomers (1a/1b and 2a/2b) together with three known analogues (3-5) were isolated from the heartwood of Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis (1 D and 2 D NMR, UV, IR, and HRMS) and experimental and calculated ECD data. Compound 2 features an unusual 2-methyl-3(2H)-furanone moiety forming the C-ring of flavonoid, and its putative biosynthetic pathway is also proposed. Compounds 3‒5 exhibited significant inhibition of nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW264.7 cells with IC50 values of 14.7 ± 0.3 µM, 40.2 ± 1.1 µM, and 3.2 ± 0.1 µM, respectively.

Integrated strategy for widely targeted metabolome characterization of Peucedani Radix.

Herbal medicines (HMs) are widely recognized as extremely complicated matrices, resulting in a great challenge for the existing analytical approaches to characterize the widely targeted metabolome. The primary obstacles include high-level structural diversity, broad concentration range, large polarity span, insufficient authentic compounds and frequent occurrences of isomers, even enantiomers. Here, we aimed to propose an integrated strategy being able to circumvent the technical barriers, and a well-known HM namely Peucedani Radix was employed to illustrate and justify the applicability. Regarding qualitative analysis, the hydrophilic metabolites were detected with HILIC-predictive multiple-reaction monitoring mode, and structurally identified by matching predefined identities with authentic compounds or information archived in relevant databases. After RPLC-MS/MS measurement, full collision energy ramp-MS2 spectrum in combination with quantum structural calculation was applied to confirmatively identify those less polar components, mainly angular-type pyranocoumarins (APs). For quantitative analysis, achiral-chiral RPLC/HILIC was configured for chromatographic separations because the analytes spanned a large polarity range and involved many enantiomers. A quasi-content concept was employed for comprehensively relative quantitation through constructing a so-called universal metabolome standard (UMS) sample and building calibration curves by assaying serial diluted UMS solutions. Consequently, high-confidence structural annotation and relatively quantitative analysis were achieved for 103 compounds, in total. After multivariate statistical analysis, some APs, e.g., (3'S)-praeruptorin A, (3'S)-praeruptorin B, (3'S)-praeruptorin E, as well as several primary metabolites were screened out as the prominent contributors for inter-batch variations. Together, current study shows a promising strategy enabling widely targeted metabolomics of, but not limited to, HMs.

[One new cembranoid diterpene from gum resin of Boswellia carterii].

This study aims to study the chemical components from the gum resin of Boswellia carterii. Five cembranoid diterpenes were isolated from the gum resin of B. carterii by various of column chromatographies including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and semi-preparative HPLC. Their structures were identified on the basis of physicochemical properties, mass spectrometry(MS), nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR), Ultraviolet(UV) and infrared(IR) spectroscopic data. These compounds were identified as(1S,2E,4R,5S,7E,11E)-4-methoxy-5-hydroxycembrane(1),(1R~*,4R~*,5E,8E,12E,15E)-4-hydroxycembra-5,8,12,15-tetraene(2), cembrene A(3),(3S,4S,7R)-4-hydroxycembrane(4), and pavidolide D(5). Compound 1 was a new compound. Compounds 2, 4, and 5 were obtained from the gum resin of B. carterii for the first time. Compound 2 showed weak inhibition on the human liver cancer cell line HepG2.