Abstract
Seven new butanolides, peltanolides A-G (1-7), and two lignan glucosides, peltasides A (8) and B (9), along with eleven known compounds, 10-20, were isolated from a crude CH(3)OH/CH(2)Cl(2) (1:1) extract of the fruit of Hernandia nymphaeifolia (Hernandiaceae). The structures of 1-9 were characterized by extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic and HRMS analysis. The absolute configurations of newly isolated compounds 1-9 were determined from data obtained by optical rotation and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) exciton chirality methods. Butanolides and lignan glucosides have not been isolated previously from this genus. Several isolated compounds were evaluated for antiproliferative activity against human tumor cell lines. Lignans 15 and 16 were slightly active against chemosensitive tumor cell lines A549 and MCF-7, respectively. Furthermore, both compounds displayed significant activity (IC(50) = 5 µM) against a P-glycoprotein overexpressing multidrug-resistant tumor cell line (KB-VIN) but were less active against its parent chemosensitive cell line (KB).