Secondary metabolites from the roots of Litsea hypophaea and their antitubercular activity.

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the roots of Litsea hypophaea led to the isolation of seven new butanolides, namely, litseakolides H-N (1-7), all with the 3R,4S configuration, as well as three new biarylpropanoids, hypophaone (8), hypophaol (9), and hypophane (10), and 15 known compounds. The structures of 1-10 were determined by means of spectroscopic analysis. Litseakolide L (5) and N-trans-feruloylmethoxytyramine (11) showed antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H(37)Rv, with MIC values of 25 and 1.6 microg/mL, respectively.