Flavans from the leaf of Ilex centrochinensis

Abstract

Phytochemical investigation of the leaf of Ilex centrochinensis led to the isolation and characterization of four flavans, one flavanone (5), and one flavone (6), including a new compound whose structure was elucidated as (2S)-5,3′,4′-trihydroxy-7-methoxyflavan (1) and a new natural product whose structure was elucidated as (2S)-5-hydroxy-7,3′,4′-trimethoxyflavan (4) on the basis of spectroscopic methods especially 1D and 2D NMR, CD, and mass spectral analyses. Compounds 1 and 4 exhibited weak cytotoxic activity against Huh7 cell line and no cytotoxic activity against Caco-2 cell line.

Keywords:

• Ilex centrochinensis
• (2S)-5,3′,4′-trihydroxy-7-methoxyflavan
• (2S)-5-hydroxy-7,3′,4′-trimethoxyflavan
• cytotoxic activity

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the opening fund of Hubei Key Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Chemistry and Resource Evaluation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. We are grateful to C.R. Wang (Enshi Food and Drug Administration, Hubei province, China) for medicinal material collection.