Chalcone-derived Diels–Alder adducts as NF-κB inhibitors from Morus alba

Abstract

A bioassay-guided phytochemical fractionation of the methanol extract of the Morus alba root barks led to the isolation of two chalcone-derived Diels–Alder adducts (1 and 2). Their structures were elucidated as kuwanon J 2,4,10″-trimethyl ether (1) and kuwanon R (2) by means of spectroscopic methods. Both compounds strongly inhibited nuclear transcription factor.κB activity with the IC₅₀ values of 4.65 and 7.38 μM, respectively.

Keywords:

• Morus alba
• Moraceae
• chalcone-derived Diels–Alder
• NF-κB

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by a grant from the Vietnam's National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED-104.01.41.09) to one of the authors (NTD). We thank the Institute of Chemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology for the NMR and MS measurements.