Phenylpropanoids and a diarylpentanol from Stellera chamaejasme with acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity

The chemical investigation on the roots of Stellera chamaejasme led to the identification of five undescribed compounds, including three lignans (1, 2, and 3b), one coumarin (4), one diarylpentanoid (5), and eight known analogues (3a, 6–10, and 11a/11b). Among them, two pairs of enantiomers were separated by chiral resolution. The structures of all compounds were elucidated by NMR spectroscopy and HRESIMS data analyses, quantum chemical calculations of NMR chemical shifts and ECD, as well as single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. All isolates were tested for their inhibitory activities against AChE, and compound 2 showed the most potent inhibitory activity, with an inhibition rate of 88.0% at 100 μM. In addition, the possible interaction mechanism of 2 against AChE was predicted by molecular docking.