Chemical constituents from the roots and stems of Stauntonia brachyanthera Hand-Mazz and their bioactivities

Abstract Stauntonia brachyanthera Hand-Mazz., known as zhuyaozi or north banana by Dong Ethnicity in the southwest of China, is widely accepted as a delicious fruit with high economic value because of the presence of health-promoting components and the delivery of new tastes. In search for antioxidant compounds, the activity-guided fractionation and purification processes were performed on the stems and roots of S. brachyanthera , which resulted in the isolation of six new compounds, brachyanin A–F ( 1–6 ), and seven known compounds ( 7–13 ). Their structures were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR, and HR-ESI-MS. Brachyanin A ( 1 ) exhibited significant cytotoxicity against HepG2 and K562 cell lines with IC 50 values of 6.93 and 7.89 µM, respectively, and possessed antioxidant activity. Six compounds presented stronger antioxidant activities than those of vitamin C and quercetin in three tests (DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP). Among them, calceolarioside B ( 9 ) exhibited strongest activity and was present in higher amounts in the plant, which could be designated as characteristic component for the pharmacognostic identification and the quality control of S. brachyanthera . These findings laid solid theoretical references for the exploration of traditional usage of S. brachyanthera .