Triterpene saponins from the roots of Ilex pubescens.

Five new triterpene saponins, Ilexpublesnins N-R (1-5), along with seven known analogs were isolated from the root of Ilex pubescens. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D and 2D NMR experiments. Ilexpublesnin N (1) possessed a rare 20-hydroxyursolic acid scaffold from natural resource. These compounds were evaluated in vitro for their cytotoxic effects on human cancer cell lines HepG2, HLE, BEL7402, BEL7403, BEL7405, MCF-7, HeLa. Among them, only compounds 5 and 10 showed cytotoxic potentiality against BEl-7403 and HEL cell lines [inhibition (%): 35.38 and 45.12, respectively].