You Hui Lee

Ginsenoside Rs(3), a genuine dammarane-glycoside from Korean red ginseng.

A genuine dammarane-glycoside, named as ginsenoside Rs3, was isolated from the MeOH extracts of Korean red ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) through repeated silica gel column chromatographies and its chemical structure was determined as (20S)-protopanaxadiol 3-O-[6″-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→2)-β-D-glucopyranoside on the basis of several spectral and physical evidences including HMBC and FAB-MS.

Cytotoxicities of ginseng saponins and their degradation products against some cancer cell lines

In order to elucidate the cytotoxicity-structure correlation of ginseng-derived components, several prosapogenins and sapogenins were prepared from Korean red ginseng (Panax ginseng) saponins by acid hydrolysis or alkaline cleveage, and their chemical structures were identified by a combination of spectral and physical methods. Some of these degradation products showed the cytotoxic activities against various cancer cell lines, A549, SK-OV-3, SK-Mel-2, P388, L 1210 and K562. The significant difference in cytotoxicity between stereoisomers was not found and the activity was inversely proportional to the number of sugars linked to sapogenins. Diol-type prosapogenins and sapogenins showed higher cytotoxicity than triol-type ones.

Ginsenoside Rf2, a new dammarane glycoside from Korean red ginseng (Panax ginseng)

A new dammarane glycoside named ginsenoside Rf2 has been isolated from Korean red ginseng (Panax ginseng) and its chemical structure has been elucidated as 6-O-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl (1→2) β-D-glucopyranosyl]dammarane-3β, 6α, 12β, 20(R), 25-pentol by chemical and spectral methods.

Panaxyne epoxide, a new cytotoxic polyyne fromPanax ginseng root against L1210 cells

A new polyacetylene compound with cytotoxic activity against L1210 cells having diyne-ene and epoxy moiety, named panaxyne epoxide, was isolated fromPanax ginseng C.A. Meyer. The chemical structure of the polyacetylene was determined to be tetradeca-13-ene-1,3-diyne-6,7-epoxide by UV, IR,1H-NMR,13C-NMR and mass spectra.

Isolation of a cytotoxic agent from Asiasari Radix

A minor cytotoxic compound was isolated by bioassay-guided fractionation from Asiasari Radix and identified as aristolactam III (1) on the basis of spectral data and chemical evidence. This is the first report on the isolation of compound1 from Asiasarum genus. Compound 1 exhibited a significant cytotoxic activity against the three kinds of human cancer cell lines (A-549, SK-MEL-2 and SK-OV-3).