Chun-Feng Xie

Secondary Metabolites in Bryophytes: An Ecological Aspect

Bryophytes frequently grow in an unfavorable environment as the earliest land plants, and inevitably biosynthesize secondary metabolites against biotic or abiotic stress. They not only defend against the plant competition, microbial attack, and insect or animal predation, but also function in UV protection, drought tolerance, and freezing survival. This review covers the ecological aspect of secondary metabolites in bryophytes and is taxonomically presented according to the ecological significances.

ent-Kaurane Diterpenoids from the Liverwort Jungermannia atrobrunnea

Three new rearranged ent-kaurane-type diterpenoids (1-3) and seven new ent-kaurane-type diterpenoids (4-10) have been isolated from the liverwort Jungermannia atrobrunnea. Their structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic techniques and X-ray crystallographic analysis. The absolute configurations of these compounds were clarified by CD spectroscopic studies. Compound 1 is the first example of a rearranged ent-kaurane diterpenoid possessing a peroxide bridge.

Pallambins A and B, Unprecedented Hexacyclic 19-nor-Secolabdane Diterpenoids from the Chinese Liverwort Pallavicinia ambigua

Pallambins A (1) and B (2), two novel 19-nor-7,8-secolabdane diterpenoids with unprecedented tetracyclo[4.4.0(3,5).0(2,8)]decane skeletons, along with a pair of structurally related isomers, pallambins C (3) and D (4), were isolated from the Chinese liverwort Pallavicinia ambigua. Their structures with absolute configurations were determined by means of NMR, X-ray diffraction, and CD analyses. Their preliminary cytotoxicity to human cancer cells was also tested.

Antifungal macrocyclic bis(bibenzyls) from the Chinese liverwort Ptagiochasm intermedlum L.

Six macrocyclic bis(bibenzyls) were obtained from the Chinese liverwort Ptagiochasm intermedlum L., and their structures were elucidated as pakyonol (1), neomarchantin A (2), isoriccardin C (3), marchantin H (4), riccardin F (5) and riccardin C (6) on the basis of spectroscopic data and comparison with known compounds. Among them, compounds 3–5 were isolated from this liverwort species for the first time. They possessed in vitro antifungal properties against the fluconazole-sensitive and resistant strains of Candida albicans, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 32 to >512 µg mL−1. Furthermore, riccardin C was also demonstrated to act as a fungal resistance modifying agent when its combined effect with fluconazole on three resistant strains of C. albicans was investigated. The synergistic or additive activity of riccardin C caused dramatically reduced MICs of fluconazole by at most 256-fold.

Biocatalytic production of acyclic bis[bibenzyls] from dihydroresveratrol by crude Momordica charantia peroxidase.

Biotransformation of dihydroresveratrol by crude Momordica charantia peroxidase provided six new acyclic bis[bibenzyls] 1–6. Their structures were established on the basis of NMR and MS analyses as CC, COC, and CCH2C dimers of dihydroresveratrol. Compounds 1–6 were tested for antiproliferative activity against human prostate cancer PC3 cell line in vitro, and 2 and 6 were found to be more potent than the parent compound.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for the quantitation of plagiochin E and its main metabolite plagiochin E glucuronides in rat plasma.

Plagiochin E, a macrocyclic bisbibenzyl isolated from liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, was found to have antifungal activity. To evaluate the pharmacokinetics of plagiochin E in rats, a sensitive and specific liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantitation of plagiochin E and its total conjugated metabolites in rat plasma. For detection, a Sciex API 4000 LC-MS/MS with a TurboIonSpray ionization (ESI) inlet in the negative ion-multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was used. The plasma samples were pretreated by a simple liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. The concentration of plagiochin E parent form was determined directly and the concentration of plagiochin E conjugated metabolites was assayed in the form of plagiochin E after treatment with beta-glucuronidase/sulfatase. The statistical evaluation for this method reveals excellent linearity, accuracy and precision for the range of concentrations 0.5-1000.0 ng/mL. The method had a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 0.5 ng/mL for plagiochin E in 50 microL of plasma. The method was successfully applied to the characterization of the pharmacokinetic profile of plagiochin E in rats after an oral and an intravenous administration.