Secoheliosphanes A and B and Secoheliospholane A, Three Diterpenoids with Unusual seco-Jatrophane and seco-Jatropholane Skeletons from Euphorbia helioscopia

Secoheliosphanes A (1) and B (2) and secoheliospholane A (3), possessing an unusual 7,8-seco-jatrophane skeleton and an unprecedented 9,10-seco-7,10-epoxyjatropholane skeleton, respectively, were isolated from the whole plants of Euphorbia helioscopia, along with two biogenetically precursors, a new jatrophane diterpene, 2-epieuphornin I (4) and a known jatrophane diterpene, euphoscopin A (5). Structures of 1-4 including absolute configurations were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data, X-ray crystallography, and chemical conversion. Compounds 1 and 2 were prepared from 4 and 5, respectively, confirming their structural assignments. Notably, 1 and 2 presented the first examples of seco-jatrophane-type diterpenoids and 3 featured a novel 5/6/7/7-fused tetracyclic ring skeleton. Among them, compound 2 showed modest activity against HSV-1 with IC50 value of 6.41 mu M.