Bioactive bibenzyl derivatives and fluorenones from Dendrobium nobile

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the 60% ethanol extract of the stems of Dendrobium nobile using the DPPH assay led to the isolation of two new bibenzyl derivatives, nobilin D (1) and nobilin E (2), and a new fluorenone, nobilone (3), together with seven known compounds (4-10). Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic analyses. Compounds 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, and 10 exhibited significant antioxidant activity higher than or equivalent to vitamin C in the DPPH assay, and compounds 1, 3, 4, and 7-10 displayed higher antioxidant activity than vitamin C in the ORAC assay. Compounds 1, 2, and 10 also exhibited stronger inhibitory effects on NO production than resveratrol.