Chemical constituents from the rhizome of Dioscorea bulbifera L.

Abstract A phytochemical investigation of the rhizome of Dioscorea bulbifera L. led to the isolation of twenty compounds, including eight phenanthrenes ( 1 – 8 ), eight flavonoids ( 9-16 ), two diterpenes ( 17 , 18 ), one bibenzyl derivatives ( 19 ), and one acid ( 20 ). The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and comparison with previous literature data. Among them, 1 and 16 were isolated from the rhizome of Dioscorea bulbifera L. for the first time and compounds 16 first reported from the genus Dioscorea. They were tested in vitro for cytotoxic activities against CT26 cell lines and Compound 1 exhibits cytotoxic activity with IC 50 value of 83.23 μM.