Artapilosines A and B, Unusual Phenanthrene Derivatives Related to Aporphine Alkaloids from .

Two unusual phenanthrene derivatives related to aporphine alkaloids, artapilosines A () and B (), as well as two biogenetically related known aporphine alkaloids, (-)-anonaine () and (-)--acetylanonaine (), were separated and purified from . Artapilosine A () is the first compound representative of a new class of phenanthrene derivatives having an unprecedented carbon skeleton, in which the six-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic structure in a typical aporphine alkaloid was substituted with a unique five-membered carbocyclic ring. This is the first report of the formation of a carbon-carbon bond between C-5 and C-6a in with the loss of the nitrogen atom N-6 in the classic aporphine alkaloid. Artapilosine B () is a novel phenanthrene derivative having a hydroxyethyl as a substituent on the phenanthrene ring. Their chemical structures as well as absolute configurations were determined based on analysis of spectroscopic data. Additionally, the potential anti-HIV activities of all isolates - were appraised. Artapilosines A () and B () showed notable anti-HIV reverse transcriptase affects, with EC values of 20.93 and 125.29 nM, respectively. These results suggested that the discovery of these novel phenanthrene derivatives from with remarkable anti-HIV effects could be essentially important for the researching and developing of new anti-HIV agents.