Constituents of the root wood of Zanthoxylum wutaiense with antitubercular activity

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the root wood of Zanthoxylum wutaiense led to the isolation of 11 new compounds, wutaiensol methyl ether (1), demethoxywutaiensol methyl ether (2), methyl wutaiensate (3), methyl 7-hydroxyanodendroate (4), methyl 7-methoxyanodendroate (5), wutaifuranol (6), 7-methoxywutaifuranol (7), 7-methoxywutaifuranal (8), methyl wutaifuranate (9), methyl 7-methoxybenzofuran-5-carboxylate (10), and wutaipyranol (12), together with another 37 known compounds, of which one, 7-methoxybenzofuran-5-carboxaldehyde (11), was not previously known as a plant constituent. The structures of these isolates were identified by means of spectroscopic analysis. Five of these isolates were found to be antitubercular constituents, namely, methyl 7-methoxyanodendroate (5), 7-methoxywutaifuranal (8), wutaiensal (13), dictamnine (14), and gamma-fagarine (15), which exhibited antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, showing MIC values of 35, 35, 30, 30, and 30 microg/mL, respectively.