Asimitrin and 4-hydroxytrilobin, new bioactive annonaceous acetogenins from the seeds of Asimina triloba possessing a bis-tetrahydrofuran ring.

Bioactivity-directed fractionation of the seeds of Asimina triloba resulted in the isolation of asimitrin (1) and 4-hydroxytrilobin (2). Compound 1 represents an adjacent ring-hydroxylated bis-tetrahydrofuran (THF) acetogenin. Compound 2 has an adjacent bis-THF ring with two flanking hydroxyl groups and a alpha,beta-unsaturated gamma-lactone with a 4-hydroxyl group.

Two new epimeric pairs of acetogenins bearing a carbonyl group from Annona cherimolia seeds.

Further studies on the seeds of Annona cherimolia have led to the isolation of two pairs of Annonaceous acetogenins, a mixture of epimers of annomolon A (1) and 34-epi-annomolon A (1'), and a mixture of epimers of annomolon B (2) and 34-epi-annomolon B (2'), containing a rare gamma-hydroxymethyl-gamma-lactone moiety and a carbonyl group. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical methods, and their absolute stereochemistry was solved by preparing their respective per-Mosher ester derivatives. These acetogenins showed substantial cytotoxicity, comparable to that of adriamycin, against a human pancreatic tumor cell line (MIA PaCa-2).

Regulation and quality control of herbal drugs in Korea.

Korea has a great diversity in resources of medicinal plants. The traditional herbal medicines and their preparations have been widely used in Korea as well as in China and Japan for thousands of years. One of the characteristics of Korean herbal medicine preparations is that all the herbal medicines are incorporated into an extractor at the same time and extracted with boiling water during the decoction process.