Potent and selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors from Ficus foveolata

Four stilbenes (1–4), one inseparable mixture of two alkyl diferulates (5a, 5b), one alkyl ferulate (6) and four flavonoids (7–10) were isolated from Ficus foveolata Wall. Except for quercetin (10), the other ten constituents were isolated from F. foveolata for the first time. In addition, one of the two components in mixture 5 is a new compound identified as (1E,22E)-1,22-docosanediol diferulate (5a). All nine isolated compounds, plus the mixture of 5a and 5b known as 5, exhibited a low or no activity against acetylcholinesterase. However, and interestingly, the stilbenes 1–4 showed a high inhibition towards butyrylcholinesterase. Gnetol (4) had the lowest IC50 value of 1.3 μM towards butyrylcholinesterase and showed a reversible and competitive inhibition in the kinetic study.

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