Bioactive constituents from roots of Salvia syriaca L.: Acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity and molecular docking studies

•Isolation and structure elucidation of bioactive compounds from Salvia syriaca•Corosolic acid, urs-12-en-2α,3β-diol and daucosterol are reported from S. syriaca for the first time.•β-sitosterol and daucosterol exhibited high acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities.•Docking analysis was performed and confirmed the experimental results.

Several Salvia species have been used to enhance memory in European traditional medicine. Accordingly, we aimed to evaluate the acetone extract of the roots of Salvia syriaca for anti-Alzheimer constituents. Structures of purified compounds were determined as ursolic acid, corosolic acid, β-sitosterol, urs-12-en-2α,3β-diol and daucosterol (1–5). β-sitosterol and daucosterol exhibited high acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities (24.1 and 34.3 μg/mL, respectively). The experimental results were also confirmed by docking analysis.