Four Steroidal Saponins from the Trunks of Dracaena cambodiana with Inhibition of NO Production in LPS Activated RAW264.7 Cells

Abstract

Dracaena cambodiana Pierre ex Gagnep. is well known as a medicinal plant and widely distributed in Vietnam. Phytochemical investigation on the trunks of D. cambodiana lead to the isolation of four undescribed compounds (1–4) together with seven known ones (5–11). Their structures were determined to be pennogenin‐24‐yl‐O‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside (1), 17α‐hydroxycambodianoside C (2), (25R)‐27‐hydroxypenogenin 3‐O‐α‐L‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→3)‐[α‐L‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)]‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside (3), (3β,25R)‐17α,22α‐dihydroxy‐furost‐5‐en‐3‐yl‐O‐α‐L‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→3)‐[α‐L‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)]‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside (4), dracagenin A (5), 1‐O‐β‐D‐glucopyranosyl‐2‐hydroxy‐4‐allylbenzene (6), 1‐O‐α‐L‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→6)‐β‐D‐glucopyranosyl‐2‐hydroxy‐allylbenzene (7), 2‐O‐α‐L‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→6)‐β‐D‐glucopyranosyl‐1‐hydroxy‐allylbenzene (8), cinnamrutinoside A (9), icariside D1 (10), and seco‐isolariciresinol 9‐O‐β‐glucopyranoside (11) by extensive spectroscopic investigation, HR‐ESI‐MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectra. The anti‐inflammatory activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated on macrophages. Compounds 1–6 significantly inhibited nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. Among them, compound 1 showed the best inhibitory activity with an IC₅₀ value of 8.90±0.56 μM.