Cardenolides from the stem bark of Salacia staudtiana

Seven new cardenolides, staudtianoside A-F (1-6) and staudtianogenin A (8), were isolated along with six known compounds from the stem bark of the Cameroonian medicinal plant Salacia staudtiana Loes. ex Fritsch. The structures were elucidated by means of ESI-HRMS and NMR spectroscopic methods and by comparison with literature data. The relative configurations of the new compounds were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis, NOESY correlation and coupling constants. We evaluated the antibacterial efficacy of the isolated compounds against two commonly dispersed environmental strains of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, as well as against two human pathogenic clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Compounds 1, 2 and 8 exhibited marked antibacterial potencies against the clinically relevant P. aeruginosa that were comparable to the standard antibiotics. Compound 2 was also active against S. aureus and E. coli. Further, compounds 5 and 8 demonstrated efficacy against E. coli as well as B. subtilis. The structure-activity relationship of the tested compounds is discussed.