Eleven undescribed triterpenoids (pentandrucines A to K) were isolated from the n-hexane extract of the stem bark of Chisocheton pentandrus (Blanco) Merr. These comprised ten undescribed dammarane-type triterpenoids and one undescribed apotirucallane-type triterpenoid. Additionally, two dammarane-type triterpenoids, four apotirucallane-type triterpenoids and two tirucallane-type triterpenoids were also isolated. The chemical structures of pentandrucine A-K, were fully elucidated using 1D and 2D-NMR, and high resolution MS. All of the compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vitro. Melianodiol proved to be the most active with an IC₅₀ of 16.84 μM comparing favourably with Cisplatin (13.2 μM).

Murraya is a plant genus within the Rutaceae family comprising over 17 species, which are widely distributed in Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Furthermore, these species have been used in traditional medicine to treat fever, pain, and dysentery. Several reports have also extensively studied the leaves, seeds, stembark, and bark of Murraya from 1965 to 2023 to explore their natural product composition. Various phytochemical studies have revealed the isolation of 413 compounds recorded, comprising coumarins, terpenoids, flavonoids, and aromatics, as well as alkaloids, which constitute the largest proportion (46.9%). These isolated compounds have long been known to exhibit different bioactivities, such as cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory properties. Cytotoxic activity has been observed against HCT 116, HeLa, HepG2, and other cell lines. Previous studies have also reported the presence of antifungal, hepatoprotective, antihyperlipidemic, antidiarrheal, and antioxidant effects. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive overview of Murraya species, highlighting their phytochemistry, biological activities, and potential as a source of active natural compounds.

New phenylisoxazole quinoxalin-2-amine hybrids 5a–i were successfully synthesised with yields of 53–85% and characterised with various spectroscopy methods. The synthesised hybrids underwent in vitro α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory assays, with acarbose as the positive control. Through the biological study, compound 5h exhibits the highest α-amylase inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ = 16.4 ± 0.1 μM while compounds 5a–c, 5e and 5h exhibit great potential as α-glucosidase inhibitors, with 5c being the most potent (IC₅₀ = 15.2 ± 0.3 μM). Among the compounds, 5h exhibits potential as a dual inhibitor for both α-amylase (IC₅₀ = 16.4 ± 0.1 μM) and α-glucosidase (IC₅₀ = 31.6 ± 0.4 μM) enzymes. Through the molecular docking studies, the inhibition potential of the selected compounds is supported. Compound 5h showed important interactions with α-amylase enzyme active sites and exhibited the highest binding energy of −8.9 ± 0.10 kcal mol⁻¹, while compound 5c exhibited the highest binding energy of −9.0 ± 0.20 kcal mol⁻¹ by forming important interactions with the α-glucosidase enzyme active sites. The molecular dynamics study showed that the selected compounds exhibited relative stability when binding with α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. Additionally, compound 5h demonstrated a similar pattern of motion and mechanism of action as the commercially available miglitol.

Guarea is one of the largest genera of the American Meliaceae family, consisting of over 69 species which are widely distributed in Mexico, Argentina, and Africa and are used in traditional medicine for several diseases. Previous studies reported that the Guarea species produce secondary metabolites such as sesquiterpenoid, diterpenoid, triterpenoid, limonoid, steroid, and aromatic compounds. The preliminary chemical investigation commenced by isolating the limonoid compound, dihydrogedunin, in 1962; then, 240 compounds were obtained from the isolation and hydrodistillation process. Meanwhile, sesquiterpenoid is a significant compound with 52% of Guarea species. The extract and compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammation, antimalarial, antiparasitic, antiprotozoal, antiviral, antimicrobial, insecticidal, antioxidant, phosphorylation inhibitor, and cytotoxic biological activities. The Guarea genus has also been reported as one of the sources of active compounds for medicinal chemistry. This review summarizes some descriptions regarding the types of Guarea species, especially ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology, such as the compounds isolated from the part of this genus, various isolation methods, and their bioactivities. The information can be used in further investigations to obtain more bioactive compounds and their reaction mechanisms.

Steroid groups isolated from many plants are known to play a significant role in various biological systems. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze two novel pregnane steroids, pachylenone A (1) and pachylenone B (2), isolated from Aglaia pachyphylla Miq. The cytotoxicity of the steroids was evaluated against MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines with other known steroid compounds, namely 5α-dihydroprogesterone (3), GSD-8 (4), trans-5α-pregn-l7(20)-en-3,16-dion (5), 20β-hydroxy-5αH-pregnan-3-one (6), 3β-hydroxy-5α-pregnan-20-one (7), aglaiasterol B (8), and 2β,3β-dihydroxypregnan-16-one (9). Meanwhile, structural elucidation was achieved through different spectroscopic methods including one and two-dimensional NMR, as well as mass spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations (TD-DFT and NMR DP4+ probability). The cytotoxic effects of steroid compounds (1–9) on MCF-7 lines were also examined. The results showed that compound 8 had the strongest activity with an IC₅₀ value of 228 μM, followed by compound 6 (IC₅₀ 568,76 μM), and pachylenone A (1) (IC₅₀ 768.73 μM). As a recommendation for future research, other activities of these compounds should be evaluated.

Two new dammarane-type triterpenoid fatty acid ester derivatives, 3β-oleate-20S-hydroxydammar-24-en (1) and 3β-oleate-20S,24S-epoxy-25-hydroxydammarane (2) with a known dammarane-type triterpenoid compound, such as 20S-hydroxydammar-24-en-3-on (3), were isolated from the stem bark of Aglaiaelliptica (C.DC.) Blume. The chemical structures were determined by spectroscopic methods, including FTIR, NMR (one and two-dimensional), and HRESITOF-MS analysis, as well as chemical derivatization and comparison with previous literature. Furthermore, the synthetic analog resulting from transesterification of 1 and 2 also obtained 3β,20S-dihydroxy-dammar-24-en (4) and 20S,24S-epoxy-3β,25-dihydroxydammarane (5), respectively. The cytotoxic effect of all isolated and synthetic analog compounds was evaluated using PrestoBlue reagent against MCF-7 breast cancer cell and B16-F10 melanoma cell lines. The 20S-hydroxydammar-24-en-3-on (3) showed the strongest activity against MCF-7 breast cancer and B16-F10 melanoma cell, indicating that the ketone group at C-3 in 3 plays an essential role in the cytotoxicity of dammarane-type triterpenoid. On the other hand, compounds 1 and 2 had very weak cytotoxic activity against the two cell lines, indicating the presence of fatty acid, significantly decreasing cytotoxic activity. This showed the significance of the discovery to investigate the essential structural feature in dammarane-type triterpenoid, specifically for the future development of anticancer drugs.