Phenolic Compounds From Artemisia nujianensis and Their Anti-Inflammatory Activities

A phytochemical study of Artemisia nujianensis resulted in the isolation of twelve phenolic compounds, comprising two coumarinolignans, two benzofuran neolignans, three coumarins, three 1,2-diarylpropanes, and two flavonoids. Among them, three are previously unreported, including two coumarinolignans (artenujianenins A and B, 1 and 2) and one benzofuran neolignan (artenujianenin C, 3). Through chiral separation, a pair of enantiomers (±)-1 was obtained, whereas compounds 2 and 3 were not resolved due to insufficient material. The structures of all isolates were established by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, and the absolute configurations of (±)1 were assigned based on electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. This study marks the first isolation of phenolic compounds from this species, expanding its chemical diversity beyond the previously reported sesquiterpenoids. In bioactivity evaluations, compound 4 showed significant anti-inflammatory activity (IC₅₀ = 8.09 ± 0.18 µM) and down-regulated IL-1β expression. None of the tested compounds, however, exhibited cytotoxicity against the human cancer cell lines A549, HeLa, HepG2, and Huh-7 at concentrations up to 20.00 µM.