Bixasteroid, a new compound from the fruits of Bixa orellana and its anti-inflammatory activity

Abstract

Bixasteroid (1), one new steroid together with five known compounds (2–6), were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of ethanol extract of Bixa orellana fruits. All of these known compounds were isolated from the plant for the first time. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis, and the absolute configuration of compound 1 was determined by X-ray crystallographic data analysis as well as by the quantum chemical ECD calculations. All the isolated compounds were tested for their anti-inflammatory activities. Compounds 1 and 2 showed inhibiting NO release activities in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages with the IC₅₀ values of 4.72 ± 0.28 and 5.48 ± 1.48 μM, respectively.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Bixa orellana
• X-ray diffraction
• anti-inflammatory activity
• ECD calculations
• bixasteroid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No.2017YFC1703800).