Stem bark of Hippocratea excelsa afforded six pentacyclic triterpenes, five oleanane and one ursane types. They were identified as 11beta,21beta-dihydroxy-olean-12-ene-3-one (2), 3alpha,11alpha,21beta-trihydroxy-olean-12-ene (3), 3alpha,21beta-dihydroxy-11alpha-methoxy-olean-12-ene (4), 3alpha,21beta-dihydroxy-olean-9(11),12-diene (5), 3alpha,21beta-dihydroxy-olean-12-ene (6) and 3alpha,21beta-...

Given the present high incidence of melanoma and skin cancer, interest in potential drugs of plant origin has increased significantly. Pentacyclic lupane-type triterpenes are widely distributed in plants, offering numerous pharmacological benefits. Betulin is an important compound in the bark of Betula pendula Roth and has important therapeutic properties, including antitumor activities. Its bi...

SCOPE Inhibiting human neutrophil elastase (HNE) is a promising strategy for treating inflammatory lung diseases, such as H1N1 and SARS virus infections. The use of sivelestat, the only clinically registered synthesized HNE inhibitor, is largely limited by its risk of organ toxicity because it irreversibly inhibits HNE. Therefore, potent reversible HNE inhibitors are promising alternatives to s...

Three new dammarane triterpenes, cereotagaloperoxide, cereotagalol A, and cereotagalol B, together with four known dammarane triterpenes, an oleanane triterpene, and 13 known lupane triterpenes were isolated from the hypocotyls and fruits of Ceriops tagal. The structures of 1-3 were characterized on the basis of their spectroscopic data.

Pentacyclic triterpenes are produced by arrangement of squalene epoxide. These compounds are extremely common and are found in most plants. There are at least 4000 known triterpenes. Many triterpenes occur freely but others occur as glycosides (saponins) or in special combined forms. Pentacyclic triterpenes have a wide spectrum of biological activities and some of them may be useful in medicine...

Six new triterpene glucosides, quadranosides VI-XI (1-6), belonging to three different [ursane- (1-4), oleanane- (5) and lupane-type (6)] triterpene classes, have been isolated from a MeOH extract of the seeds of Combretum quadrangulare KURZ (Combretaceae), together with nine known compounds, rosamutin (7), 28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-6beta,23-dihydroxytormentic acid (8), arjunetin (9), arjunglu...

Pentacyclic triterpenes are naturally found in a great variety of fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants and are therefore part of the human diet. The beneficial health effects of edible and medicinal plants have partly been associated with their triterpene content, but the in vivo efficacy in humans depends on many factors, including absorption and metabolism. This review presents an overview...

(1)H-NMR and (13)C-NMR assignments of 12-oleanene-3,11-dione (compound 1) were completely described for the first time through conventional 1D NMR and 2D shift-correlated NMR experiments using (1)H-(1)HCOSY, HMQC, HMBC techniques. Based on its NMR data, the assignments of 28-hydroxyolean-12-ene-3,11-dione (compound 2) were partially revised.

Inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) has been proposed as a therapy for treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the MeOH extract of the leaves and stems of Symplocos paniculata (Thunb.) Miq. (Symplocaceae), using an in vitro PTP1B inhibitory assay, resulted in the isolation of three ursane-type triterpenes, ursolic acid (1), corosolic acid (2)...