Cytotoxicity of rhamnosylanthraquinones and rhamnosylanthrones from Rhamnus nepalensis

An extract of the fruits of Rhamnus nepalensis collected in Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam, was cytotoxic to KB cells. A bioassay-guided fractionation led to the isolation of a series of known anthraquinones and anthrones, one new rhamnosylanthraquinone, 3'-O-acetylfrangulin A (8), several new rhamnosylanthrones, the prinoidin-emodin bianthrones (9A-D), the prinoidin bianthrones (10A,B), and the rhamnepalins (11A-C). A structure-cytotoxic activity relationship study was performed on these isolates and some semisynthetic derivatives.