C21 steroids from the roots of Marsdenia tenacissima

A phytochemical investigation of the dichloromethane soluble fraction of the ethanolic extract obtained from the roots of Marsdenia tenacissima led to the discovery of the sixteen undescribed pregnane C21 steroids (1–16) and isolation of eleven known C21 steroidal analogues (17–27). Their chemical structures were elucidated by one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and, high resolution–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and their absolute configurations were determined using electronic circular dichroism or single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The in vitro anti-proliferative effects of 1–16 were evaluated against HepG2 (human hepatocellular cancer), A549 (lung cancer), and MCF-7 (human breast cancer) cell lines. Even though some of them showed moderate cytotoxic activities, marsectohexol derivative 12 exhibited significant cytotoxicity against A549 cells with an IC50 value of 5.2 μM.