New aporphine alkaloids with antitumor activities from the roots of Thalictrum omeiense

Two new aporphine alkaloids, 6aR-2'-(3-oxobutenyl)-thaliadin (1) and N-methylthalisopynine (2), along with ten known analogs (3-12), were isolated from the roots of Thalictrum omeiense W. T. Wang et S. H. Wang. Their structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic analyses. Compounds 1-7 and 9-12 were tested for their antiproliferative effects in vitro against two human cancer cell lines (A549 and MCF-7). Among them, compounds 1, 3, and 7 exhibited moderate inhibitory activity against the tested cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 23.73 to 34.97 μM.