Eight species of brown algae(Phaeophyceae) from the coast of Madagascar have been investigated for their chemical constituents. Fucosterol(3) was obtained as the most abundant compound. The brown alga Sargassum ilicifolium was the source for the first isolation of the terpenoid C₂₇-alcohol 1, 1', 2-trinorsqualenol(1) from marine sources. From S. incisifolium we isolated the highly unsaturated glycolipid 1-O-palmitoyl-2-O-stearidonoyl-3-O-β-D-galactopyranosylglycerol(4) and we report the first full assignment of its ¹H and ¹³C NMR data. Apo-9'-fucoxanthinone(8) along with 24-ketocholesterol(5),(22E)-3β-hydroxycholesta-5, 22-dien-24-one(6), and saringosterol(7) were obtained from Turbinaria ornata. The crude extracts of all eight species of brown algae exhibited a pronounced antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Antrodia cinnamomea is a precious medicinal mushroom. It exhibits promising therapeutic effects on cancer, intoxication, hypertension, hepatitis, and inflammation. Its major bioactive constituents are ergostane and lanostane triterpenoids. In this study, we used intestinal Caco-2 cell monolayer model to reveal the intestinal absorption property of 14 representative triterpenoids from A. cinnamomea. The bidirectional transport through the monolayer at different time points was monitored by a fully validated LC/MS/MS method. In the case of pure compounds, ergostanes 5(25R-antcin H), 6(25S-antcin H) and 10(25R-antcin B) could readily pass through the Caco-2 cell layer, whereas lanostanes 13(dehydroeburicoic acid) and 14(eburicoic acid) could hardly pass through. When the cells were treated with A. cinnamomea extract, antcins A, B, C, H and K(1-6 and 9-11) were absorbed via passive transcellular diffusion, and showed high P_AB and P_BA values(>2.5×10^-5 cm/s). Meanwhile, the lanostanes dehydrosulphurenic acid(8), 15α-acetyldehydrosulphurenic acid(12), 13 and 14 exhibited poor permeability. Transport features of these compounds were consistent with their pharmacokinetic behaviors in rats. This study could also be helpful in predicting the intestinal absorption of A. cinnamomea in human.

Five new hybrid monoterpenoid indole alkaloids bearing an unusual 2, 2-dimethyl-4-oxopiperidin-6-yl moiety, namely rauvotetraphyllines F-H(1, 3, 4), 17-epi-rauvotetraphylline F(2) and 21-epi-rauvotetraphylline H(5), were isolated from the aerial parts of Rauvolfia tetraphylla. Their structures were established by extensive spectroscopic analysis. The new alkaloids were evaluated for their cytotoxicity in vitro against five human cancer cell lines.

This research paper is aimed at studying the total synthesis of pharmacologically active lignan(-)-hinokinin. The synthesis features a three-step cascade reaction involving highly stereoselective Michael addition, anion-oxidative hydroxylation, and oxygen anion cyclization to construct the pivotal butyrolactonimidate intermediate.

Two hitherto unknown lanostane-type triterpenoids, namely scillascillol(1) and scillascillone(2), and a hitherto unknown norlanostane-triterpene glycoside, namely scillascilloside B-1(3), were isolated from the ethanol extract of the whole plants of Scilla scilloides. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic studies. In addition, the structure of drimiopsin D(6a) has been revised as 2, 5-dimethoxy-8-methyl-1, 3, 6-trihydroxyxanthone(6) by reanalysis of the spectroscopic data.