Two novel alkaloids from the stem of Saprosma hainanense and their cytotoxic activities in vitro.

Two novel alkaloids, saprosmine A (1) and saprosmine B (2), were isolated from the stem of Saprosma hainanense MERR., along with five known alkaloids: marcanine A (3); cleistopholine (4); 4-methoxycarbonyl-5,10-benzogquinolinequinone (5); liriodenine (6); and quinoline (7). The chemical structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic (IR, 1D-NMR, 2D-NMR, MS) data analysis and by comparison with spectroscopic data reported in the literature. Compounds 1 to 6 were evaluated for in vitro cytotoxic activities against the SPC-A-1 (human lung cancer), BEL-7402 (human hepatocellular carcinoma), SGC-7901 (human gastric cancer), and K-562 (human myelogenous leukaemia) cancer cell lines. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited weak cytotoxic activities against K-562 cells. Compounds 3 and 5 showed cytotoxic activities against all four cancer cell lines.