Dysoxylum lenticellatum is a plant endemic to southwest Yunanan province. Previous investigation of the twigs and leaves of D. lenticellatum has revealed the presence of triterpenoids, diterpenoids, and ceramids in this plant.
Aimed at finding structurally diverse natural products, the Ethnobotanical Research Group of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) further chemically investigated the stems of D. lenticellatum. They isolated dysoxylentin A, a new 21-nortriterpenoid with a 2-(propan-2-ylidenyl)furan-3(2H)-one unit from the stems.
The structure of the new nortriterpenoid was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis. A plausible biosynthetic pathway was postulated. Dysoxylentin A exhibited selective cytotoxicity against HL-60 tumor cell line.
The study was financially supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-R-172).
The finding entitled “Dysoxylentin A, the first 21-nortriterpenoid bearing a 2-(propan-2-ylidenyl)furan-3(2H)-one, from Dysoxylum lenticellatum” has been published in Tetrahedron Letters, 53 (9): 1183-1185, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tetlet.2011.12.109
Dysoxylum lenticellatum (Image by XU Youkai)