Isolation and anticomplement activity of compounds from Dendropanax morbifera.

Dendropanax morbifera Leveille (Araliaceae) is used in Korea for a variety of disease, such as migraine headache and dysmenorrhea. A new polyacetylene (1) and six known compounds (2-7) were isolated from the leaves of this plant by conventional chromatographic techniques. The structure of the new polyacetylene (1) was determined as (9Z,16S)-16-hydroxy-9,17-octadecadiene-12,14-diynoic acid by spectroscopic means including 2D NMR, which comprised the determination of a chiral by modified Mosher's ester method. Compounds 1-7 were investigated in vitro for their anticomplement activity against the classical pathway of the complement system. Of these, compound 1 showed significant anticomplement activity with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 56.98 microM, whereas compounds 2-7 were inactive.