β-amyrin heptadecanoate, a new oleanane triterpenoid with α-glucosidase inhibitory and cytotoxic activities from the leaves of Averrhoa bilimbi L.

We are happy to announce that Dr. Hoang Le Thuy Thuy Trang and colleagues recently published their work entitled "β-amyrin heptadecanoate, a new oleanane triterpenoid with α-glucosidase inhibitory and cytotoxic activities from the leaves of Averrhoa bilimbi L." in the Natural Product Research

Abstract:

A previously unreported oleanane triterpenoid, β-amyrin heptadecanoate (1), was isolated from the leaves of Thai Averrhoa bilimbi (Oxalidaceae), along with five known compounds, β-amyrin (2), β-sitosterol (3), β-sitosterol-D-glucoside (4), β-sitosteryl oleate (5), and α-tocopherol (6). Their structures were elucidated through spectroscopic analysis, including extensive NMR and HRESIMS, and by comparison with the previous literature. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their α-glucosidase inhibitory and cytotoxic activities. Compound 6 exhibited the highest α-glucosidase inhibition (IC₅₀ of 0.72 ± 1.02 µM), significantly outperforming the standard acarbose (IC₅₀ of 82.00 ± 0.24 μM). Furthermore, compound 4 demonstrated the most potent cytotoxicity against HeLa cells (IC₅₀ of 34.92 ± 0.45 μM), while compound 3 exhibited the strongest cytotoxicity towards A549 cells (IC₅₀ of 9.17 ± 0.30 μM). Additionally, a molecular docking study was conducted on the active α-glucosidase inhibitors to estimate their binding affinities and to identify the ligand-binding sites within the enzyme.