Phenolic lipid ingredients from cashew nuts

Five new phenolic lipids, 2-(8″Z-eicosenoyl)-6-(8′Z-pentadecenyl) salicylic acid (3), 2-(9″Z-hexadecenoyl)-6-(8′Z, 11′Z-pentadecadienyl) methyl salicylate (5), 2-(10″Z, 13″Z-nonadecadienoyl)-6-(8′Z, 11′Z-pentadecadienyl) salicylic acid (6), 2-(16″Z-pentacosenoyl)-6-(8′Z-pentadecenyl) salicylic acid (7) and 2-(9″Z-octadecenoyl)-6-(8′Z, 11′Z-pentadecadienyl) methyl salicylate (8), and three known compounds, cardols (1), anacardic acid (2) and cardanols (4), were isolated from the nuts of the cashew, Anacardium occidentale L. The structures were established on the basis of detailed MS and NMR spectroscopic analyses. Compound 1 highly enhanced both Th-1 (IL-2, IFN-γ) and Th-2 (IL-4, IL-5) cytokine production, and compounds 7 and 8 highly increased cytokine IL-2 and IFN-γ production in response to concanavalin A in cultured murine Peyer’s patch cells ex vivo. The isolated compounds showed moderate inhibitory activities on cytochrome CYP3A4 enzyme.