Preventive agents against sepsis and new phenylpropanoid glucosides from the fruits of Illicium verum.

The bioassay-guided fractionation of preventive agents against lethality due to septic shock from the fruits of Illicium verum led to the isolation of two known racemic mixtures of phenylpropanoids, [1-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-(1 R,2 S and 1 S,2 R)-propanediol (1) and 1-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-(1 R,2 R and 1 S,2 S)-propanediol (2)], along with two known phenylpropanoid glucosides, [1-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-(1 S,2 R)-propan-1-ol 2-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (3) and 1-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-(1 R,2 S)-propan-1-ol 2-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside ( 5)], and two new phenylpropanoid glucosides, [1-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-(1 S,2 S)-propan-1-ol 2- O-beta- D-glucopyranoside (4) and 1-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-(1 R,2 R)-propan-1-ol 2-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (6)]. Their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic studies. Among them, 1 exhibited the highest survival rate in a dose-dependent manner (100 % with a dose of 10 mg/kg against 40 % for the control experiment) and showed a reduction of the plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) value on the in vivo assay model of septic shock induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha.