Sesquiterpenes and lignans from the fruits of Illicium simonsii and their cytotoxicities

AimTo study the constituents and bioactivity of Illicium simonsii.MethodsCompounds were isolated by a combination of chromatographic materials, silica gel, ODS, and Sephadex LH-20, and finally purified by preparative HPLC. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic methods, and they were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities by the MTT method.ResultsSeven compounds were obtained and were identified as veranisatin F (1), anisatin (2), (1S)-minwanenone (3), honokiol (4), macranthol (5), (+-pinoresinol (6), and matairesinol (7).ConclusionCompound 1 is a new seco-prezizaane-type sesquiterpene, while compounds 6 and 7 were isolated from Illicium simonsii for the first time. Compounds 2 and 3 showed strong inhibitory activities against the growth of NCI-H460 and SMMC-7721 cells comparable to 5-fluorouracil, and compound 7 to a lesser extent; the other isolates showed no cytotoxicity.