Morusacerane: A new gammacerane triterpenoid from the trunk of Morus Alba linn. with α-glucosidase inhibitory activity

This phytochemistry investigation on the trunk of Morus alba L. resulted in the isolation of three triterpenoids, including a new gammacerane triterpenoid – morusacerane (1); along with two known compounds of betulinic acid (2) and ursolic acid (3). The structure elucidation was thoroughly conducted based on 1D, 2D-NMR and HRESIMS spectra, followed by a comparison with existing literatures. The evaluation on α-glucosidase inhibitory exhibited the great potential of the application of these isolated compounds in diabetes treatments. The results show that morusacerane (1), betulinic acid (2), and ursolic acid (3) demonstrate the strong inhibitory with the IC50 values of 106.1, 11.12, and 7.20 μM, respectively. All of these compounds interacted well with the allosteric site enzyme α-glucosidase MAL32 through H-bonds and hydrophobic interaction.