Chemical Constituents from the Leaves and Stems of Schisandra rubriflora

Six new nortriterpenoids, schirubridilactones A-F (1-6). as well as 14 known compounds, were isolated from the leaves and stems of Schisandra rubriflora. The Structures of 1-6 were elucidated oil the basis of spectroscopic methods including HSQC, HMBC, H-1-H-1 COSY, and ROESY NMR experiments. The relative stereochemistry of I was confirmed through single-crystal X-ray analysis. In addition, compounds 1-6 showed anti-HIV-1 activity with EC50 values in the range 14.3-80.8 mu g/mL and Selectivity indices in the range 2.2-9.0.

This project was made possible with funding from the Western Light Talents Training Programs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Key Technology R and D Program of China (2008BAC39B03), and the International Crane Foundation. We are grateful to P. Buzzard, S. Groom, and F. Li for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We thank N. Qili and K. Wang for their help in searching for cranes, and H. Wong, Q. Qilin, and L. Chen for their love and continued support. We thank the Diqing, and the Shangri-la government for their permission to conduct our study.