Tyrosinase Inhibitory Activities of Safrole from Myristica fragrans Houtt.

Five phenylpropanoids (1-5), a benzofuran neolignan (6), two 8-O-4'-neolignans (7-8), and five tetrahydrofuran lignans (9-13) were isolated from a methanol extract of Myristica fragrans seeds. The structures of 1-13 were determined by $^1H$- and $^{13}C$-NMR spectroscopic data analyses and a comparison with the literature data. Compound 3 was isolated for the first time from this plant. All the isolated compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory activity against tyrosinase. Among them, safrole (1) showed significant inhibitions against both the monophenolase ($IC_{50}=32.11{\mu}M$) and diphenolase ($IC_{50}=27.32{\mu}M$) activities of tyrosinase. The kinetic analysis shows that safrole (1) is competitive inhibitors for both monophenolase and diphenolase. The apparent inhibition constant ($K_i$) for safrole (1) binding with free enzyme was determined to be 16.05 and $13.66{\mu}M$ for monophenolase and diphenolase, respectively.