Ecdysteroids from the flowers of Aerva javanica.

Four new ecdysteroids (1-4), along with three known steroids, β-ecdysone (5), 5-β-2-deoxyintegristerone A (6) and 24-epi-makisterone A (7) (Fig. 1), were isolated from the methanolic extract of the flowers of Aerva javanica by using normal and reverse phase chromatography. The structures of the new compounds (1-4) were determined due to 1D ((1)H and (13)C), 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, COSY, NOESY) techniques and high resolution mass spectrometry (HREIMS). The known compounds (5-7) were characterized based on the 1D NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry and by comparison with the literature values. All isolates were evaluated for their inhibitory activities against enzymes acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and lipoxygenase (LOX).