Constituents of Boronia pinnata.

A novel quinolone, pinolinone (1); seven new phenylpropanoids, boropinols A (2), B (3), C (4), boropinals A (5), B (6), C (7), and boropinic acid (8); and a new lignan, boropinan (9), were isolated from the roots of Boronia pinnata, and their structures were elucidated by NMR and MS analyses. In a search for novel cancer chemopreventive agents (antitumor-promoters), we screened 10 compounds isolated from the plant for their inhibitory effects on Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate in Raji cells. Boropinic acid (8) and 4'-hydroxy-3'-prenylcinnamaldehyde were observed to significantly inhibit the EBV-EA activation.