Two new naphthoate derivatives from Morinda officinalis

Abstract

Two new naphthoate derivatives, including a symmetrical dimer (1) and a monomer (2), were separated from the roots of Morinda officinalis var. hirsuta. Their structures were characterized on the basis of spectroscopic means especially MS and NMR methods. Biological evaluations revealed that the two compounds did not show inhibition against both cholinesterases AChE and BChE, while the dimer (1) did exhibit moderate growth inhibitory activity toward one human osteosarcoma cell line U2OS with an IC₅₀ value of 18.5 ± 1.1 μM.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Rubiaceae
• Morinda officinalis
• naphthoate
• cytotoxicity
• cholinesterase

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. JQ201721), the Young Taishan Scholars Program (No. tsqn20161037), Innovation Team Project of Jinan Science & Technology Bureau (No. 2018GXRC003) and Shandong Talents Team Cultivation Plan of University Preponderant Discipline (No. 10027). We also thank Prof. Jie Zhou for the identification of the plant material.