seco-Sesquiterpenes and acorane-type sesquiterpenes with antiviral activity from the twigs and leaves of Illicium henryi Diels

Chemical investigation of an alcohol extract from the twigs and leaves of Illicium henryi Diels resulted in the isolation of two new acorane-related seco-sesquiterpenes (1 and 3), two new acorane-related seco-norsesquiterpenes (2 and 4), one new 2-epi-cedrane sesquiterpene (5), eight new acorane-type sesquiterpenes (6–13), and a known major constituent of acorenone B (14). Their structures were established by interpreting extensive spectroscopic data, including HRESIMS, NMR (¹H and ¹³C NMR, ¹H-¹H COSY, HSQC, and HMBC), and NOE difference spectra analysis. The absolute configurations of 1, 2, 4–7, 9, 10, and 14 were determined by X-ray crystallography, while chemical transformation methods were performed with compound 14 as the starting material to elegantly solve the absolute configuration issue of compounds 8 and 11–13. Notably, 1 and 2 are seco-sesquiterpenes that are related to acorane and possess an unusual ketal-linked hemiacetal in a 6,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-7-ol scaffold ring system. Plausible biosynthetic pathways for compounds 1–14, which were derived from the acorane skeleton, were proposed. All the isolated compounds (1–14) were evaluated for their antiviral and cytotoxic activities.