Chem. Pharm. Bull., 48(2),301-303, February 2000

Notes

Two New Meliacarpinins from the Roots of Melia azedarach


Yoshiyasu FUKUYAMA,* Mari OGAWA, Hironobu TAKAHASHI, and Hiroyuki MINAMI

Institute of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Yamashiro-cho, Tokushima 770-8514, Japan.

Two new azadirachtin-type limonoids, 1-methacrylyl-3-acetyl-11-methoxymeliacarpinin (1) and 1-(2-methylpropanoyl)-3-acetyl-11-methoxymeliacarpinin (2), together with the known compounds, meliacarpinin D (3), melianin B (4) and 2b, 3b-dihydroxy-5a-pregn-17(20)-(Z)-en-16-one (5), were isolated from the roots of Melia azedarach. The structures of 1 and 2 were elucidated by analysis of spectroscopic data and comparison of their NMR data with those of 3. Compounds 1 and 5 exhibited significant activity in the brine shrimp lethality test (BST).

Key words Melia azedarach; limonoid; meliacarpinin; azadirachtin; brine shrimp lethality; brine shrimp test