Bioactive Sesquiterpenes from the Essential Oil of Thuja orientalis

Abstract

A phytochemical investigation on the essential oil of Thuja orientalis resulted in the isolation and identification of three new sesquiterpenes, 3α-methoxy-4α-epoxythujopsane (1), Δ^3,15-4β-epoxythujopsene (2), and Δ^3,4-thujopsen-2,15-diol (3), together with eight known sesquiterpenoids (4–11). The structures of these new compounds were elucidated based on spectroscopic data analyses including extensive 2D-NMR data and HR-ESIMS. The full assignments of ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shifts for thujopsadiene (4) were obtained by 2D-NMR for the first time. All compounds (1–11) showed antiproliferative activities against the SK-OV-3 and SK-MEL-2 cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 5.85–28.64 µM. In addition, compounds 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 significantly inhibited nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-activated BV-2 cells with IC₅₀ values of 3.93–17.85 µM without cell toxicity.

Key words

Thuja orientalis - Cupressaceae - sesquiterpene - cytotoxicity - anti-inflammation

• References

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