Sesquiterpenoid alkaloid from Acroptilon repens.

One new sesquiterpenoid alkaloid, namely 3 beta,8 alpha-dihydroxy-13-pyrrolidine-4(15),10(14)-(1 alpha H,5 alpha H,6 beta H,11 beta H)-guaiadien-12,6-olide (1), together with two known guaiane-type sesquiternoids (2-3) was isolated from the aerial part of Acroptilon repens. The structure of 1 was established by spectroscopic methods, especially 2D NMR (HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY). Cytotoxic activity against tumor cell line was assessed for compounds 2-3, and found to show potent cytotoxic activities against tumor cell line P-388.