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Author Spotlight: Discovering New Alkaloids in Plants with Advanced Mass Spectrometry Techniques
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Three quinolinone alkaloid - phenylpropanoid adducts from Melicope pteleifolia
Thanh Hoa Nguyen1, Thi Hoai Thu Nguyen2, Thi Phuong Thao Dang3
1Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.
Abstract:
Preliminary in vitro cytotoxic test on different extracts of Melicope pteleifolia collected at Dăk Nong province, Vietnam showed that the n-hexane one was the most potent. From this n-hexane extract, three new quinolinone alkaloid-phenylpropanoid derivatives (1-3) and three known compounds (4-6) were isolated. Based on NMR and HR-MS analysis, their chemical structures were elucidated as melicoptines A-C (1-3), flindersine (4), 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid (5) and (24S)-methylcholestan-1α,3β-diol (6). Isolated compounds (1-4) were evaluated for their anti-bacterial and cytotoxic activities against human non-small cell lung cancer (A549), human cervical cancer (HeLa), human Burkitt's lymphoma (Raji) and normal fibroblasts (NIH-3T3). All of them were inactive.
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