Indonesian medicinal plants. XVII. Characterization of quassinoids from the stems of Quassia indica.

Four new quassinoids named samaderines X (1), Y (2) and Z (3), and indaquassin X (5), and a new C19 quassinoid glycoside, 2-O-glucosylsamaderine C (10), together with five known quassinoids, samaderines B (7), C (8), and E (4), indaquassin C (6), and simarinolide (9), were isolated form the stems of Quassia indica (Simaroubaceae), an Indonesian medicinal plant. The chemical structures of these quassinoids have been elucidated on the bases of their chemical and physiochemical properties. Samaderines X (1), Z (3), E (4), and B (7) were shown to exhibit significant growth-inhibitory activity against the cultured malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum (a chloroquine- resistant K1 strain), and 1--8 were shown to exhibit in vitro cytotoxicity (IC50: 0.04--100 micrograms/ml) against KB cells. Samaderines X (1), B (7) and C (8), as well s indaquassin X (5), exhibited inhibitory activity in the in vitro endothelial cell-neutrophil leukocyte adhesion assay, whereas samaderines X (1) and B (7) were found to exhibit significant anti-inflammatory activity.