Daphniyunnines A-E, alkaloids from Daphniphyllum yunnanense.

The first chemical study on the stems and leaves of Daphniphyllum yunnanense led to the isolation of five new alkaloids, daphniyunnines A-E (1-5). Daphniyunnines B-E (2-5) are four unusual C-22 nor-Daphniphyllum alkaloids. The structures of these alkaloids were characterized by spectroscopic methods, especially 2D NMR techniques. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis was used to confirm the structure of 1. Daphniyunnine D (4) showed cytotoxicity against two tumor cell lines, P-388 and A-549, with IC(50) values of 3.0 and 0.6 microM, respectively.