• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.220-224
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• 2005

Extensive chemical studies on the stem bark extracts of two Guttifereous plants namely Mesua daphnifolia and Garcinia nitida have led to the isolation of eight xanthones. Mesua daphnifolia gave cudraxanthone G (1), ananixanthone (2), 1,3,5-trihydroxy-4-methoxyxanthone (3) and euxanthone (4) while Garcinia nitida gave inophyllin B (5), 1,3,7-trihydroxy-2,4-bis (3-methylbut-2-enyl)xanthone (6), 3-isomangostin (7) and rubraxanthone (8). All these compounds were assayed against the MDA-MB-231 (human estrogen receptor negative breast cancer) cells. A structure-activity relationship study showed that structurally, all the 1, 3-oxygenated xanthones which carried unsaturated prenyl side chains (either 3-methylbut-2-enyl or 1,1-dimethyl-2-propenyl) at carbones C-2 and C-4 in the xanthone ring A are essential for the outstanding activities in the assay.