A new butanolide and a new secobutanolide from Litsea lii var. nunkao-tahangensis.

The chloroform-soluble portion of the leaf extract of Litsea lii var. nunkao-tahangensis was further studied and these studies led to the isolation of a new butanolide, litsealiicolide C (1), and a new secobutanolide, secoisolitsealiicolide B (2), along with seven known compounds, linderanolide B (3), isolinderanolide C (4), secolincomolide A (5), secokotomolide A (6), (+)-beta-eudesmol (7), trans-phytol (8), and (-)-matairesinol (9). Their structures were established on the basis of spectral analysis and comparison with the literature data. In addition, the cytotoxicities against MCF-7, NCI-H460, and SF-268 cancer cell lines were measured in vitro and the results demonstrated that these metabolites have no cytotoxicity against the selected tumour cells.