Annonaceous acetogenins from the seeds of Annona squamosa

Annona squamosa L. is native to tropic America. In 1980, A. squamosa began to be planted in Taitung, now it is cultivated in many tropic areas of China, such as Guang Dong, Yun Nan, Fu jian, Hai Nan, Hong Kong, and so on [1]. Because each part of A. squamosa can be used as folk medicine and has significant curative effects, a number of phytochemical studies have been carried out on this plant [2–4]. Many annonaceous acetogenins have been isolated from Annona plants [5]. Some exhibit potent anticancer, cytotoxic, antiparasitic, insecticidal, or immunosuppressive activity [6]. The abundance of plant material, particularly seeds, and the associated significant pharmacological effects prompted us to investigate the chemical components of A. squamosa. Herein, we report the isolation of uvarigrandin A (1), squamocin (2), motrilin (3), bullatacin (4), neo-expoxyrolin (5), neo-desacetyluvaricin (6), annonareticin (7), epoxyrolin B (8), murisolin (9), squamostatin C (10), annoglaxin (11), squamin-A (12), erythritol (13), D,L-threitol (14), D-mannitol (15), stigmasterol (16), heptadecanoic acid (17), nonadecanoic acid (18), and stearic acid (19) from A. squamosa seeds and the structure elucidation of these crystalline substances by physical and chemical properties and spectral analysis.