Cytotoxic steroidal saponins from the rhizomes of Asparagus oligoclonos

  • J Nat Prod. 2005 May;68(5):766-8. doi: 10.1021/np040128k.
Geum-Soog Kim  1 ,  Hyun-Tae Kim ,  Jae-Duck Seong ,  Sei-Ryang Oh ,  Chong-Ock Lee ,  Jin-Ki Bang ,  Nak-Sul Seong ,  Kyung-Sik Song
Affiliations
  • 1. Ginseng & Medicinal Crops Division, National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), Rural Development Administration (RDA), Suwon 441-857, Korea.
Abstract

Two new steroidal saponins, aspaoligonins A (2) and B (3), were isolated from the methanolic Extract of the rhizomes of Asparagus oligoclonos together with a known spirostanol saponin, asparanin A (1). Aspaoligonins A and B were characterized as (25S*)-5beta-spirostan-3beta,17alpha-diol 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl (1-->2)-beta-D-glucopyranoside and (25S*)-5beta-spirostan-3beta,17alpha-diol 3-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyanosyl (1-->4)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-beta-D-glucopyranoside, respectively, by spectrometric analyses including HRFABMS and 2D NMR. Compounds 1-3 were cytotoxic against five human tumor cell lines with IC50 values of 2.05-2.84 microg/mL.