Abstract:
This study employed the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity model as an anti-diabetic assay and implemented a bioactivity-guided isolation strategy to identify novel natural compounds with potential therapeutic properties.
Hypericum sampsonii was investigated, leading to the isolation of two highly modified seco-polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs) (
1 and
2 ), eight phenolic derivatives (
3 –
10 ), and four terpene derivatives (
11 –
14 ). The structures of compounds
1 and
2 , featuring an unprecedented octahydro-2H-chromen-2-one ring system, were fully characterized using extensive spectroscopic data and quantum chemistry calculations. Six compounds (
1 ,
5 –
7 ,
9 , and
14 ) exhibited potential inhibitory effects against
α-glucosidase, with IC
50 values ranging from 0.050 ± 0.0016 to 366.70 ± 11.08 μg·mL
−1. Notably, compound
5 (0.050 ± 0.0016 μg·mL
−1) was identified as the most potential α-glucosidase inhibitor, with an inhibitory effect about 6900 times stronger than the positive control, acarbose (IC
50 = 346.63 ± 15.65 μg·mL
−1). A docking study was conducted to predict molecular interactions between two compounds (
1 and
5 ) and α-glucosidase, and the hypothetical biosynthetic pathways of the two unprecedented seco-PPAPs were proposed.