Sesquiterpene lactones from Centaurea zuccariniana and their antimicrobial activity

Twenty-nine compounds were isolated from the aerial parts of the Greek plant C. zuccariniana DC. The structures of the isolated compounds were established by means of NMR- ((1) H,(1) H-COSY, (1) H,(13) C-HSQC, HMBC, NOESY, and ROESY) and mass-spectral analyses. These compounds comprise 13 sesquiterpene lactones, 14 flavonoids, two lignans, and one simple lactone. Among the isolated sesquiterpene lactones, three are new, namely one heliangolide, (1E,4Z)-15-hydroxy-8α-O-(4'-acetoxy-3'-hydroxy-2'-methylidenebutanoyl)-6βH,7αH-germacra-1,4,11(13)-trien-6,12-olide; and two eudesmanolides, 8α-(4',5'-diacetoxyangeloyl)sonchucarpolide and one unusual eudesmanolide with an oxygenated bridge linking C(1) and C(4), named zuccarinin. The main sesquiterpene lactones were malacitenolide, cnicin, and 4'-O-acetylcnicin. These results are in agreement with those obtained from the previously studied Greek Centaurea sp. belonging to the section Acrolophus (Cass.) DC.; this finding could be of chemotaxonomic significance for the genus Centaurea. The in vitro antimicrobial activities of the isolated new sesquiterpene lactones were against eight bacteria and eight fungal species. A 96-well microbioassay procedure for fast and easy evaluation of antibacterial and antifungal activities was applied to compare these compounds with commercial antibiotic and fungicide standards, and with previously isolated analogous sesquiterpene lactones tested by the same bioassay. All of the compounds tested showed moderate antibacterial, but significant antifungal activities; the present results corroborate with previous data, indicating that these types of compounds exhibit low or moderate antibacterial, but potent antifungal activities. The unusual eudesmanolide zuccarinin proved to be the most potent among the present tested sesquiterpene lactones, as well as among all previously tested eudesmanolides isolated from Greek Centaurea sp.