Two new chemical constituents from the aerial parts of Tripterygium wilfordii

Tripterygium wilfordii has been historically employed as a conventional botanical insecticide and a plant of medicinal significance. A new dihydroagarofuran sesquiterpene (1) and a new acyclic compound (2), along with seven known compounds (3-9), have been isolated from the aerial parts of Tripterygium wilfordii. The identification of the structures of novel compounds were accomplished through comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, encompassing HRESIMS, NMR, UV, IR, and a comparative analysis with spectroscopic data from compounds previously characterised. In in-vitro bioassay, compound 8 exhibited significant inhibitory activity for NO release in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells, with an IC50 value of 15.7 μM.