Chemical investigations of the 75% EtOH extract of the leaves of Tripterygium wilfordii obtained five undescribed naturally occurring sesquiterpenes with dihydro-β-agarofuran skeleton, tripteresters A-E (1-5), along with eight known analogues (6-13). Their chemical structures were elucidated by a combination of spectroscopic the comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) exciton chirality, and quantum chemical calculations ECD. In the bioactivity assay, their neuroprotective properties against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative damage in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells were investigated, and compounds 4, 8, and 12 revealed moderate protective activity at a concentration of 12.5 µM.
Keywords: Dihydro-β-agarofuran; ECD calculations; Neuroprotection; Tripterygium wilfordii.
Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.