Anti-inflammatory monoterpene esters from the stems of Illigera aromatica.

Two new monoterpene esters illigerates F and G (1 and 2) together with 5 know compounds illigerate A (3), illigerate C (4), actinodaphnine (5), N-methylactinodaphnine(6) and N-methyllaurotetanine(7) were isolated from Illigera aromatica S. Z. Huang et S. L. Mo. Their structures were identified by extensive NMR data and by comparing with the known compounds. The anti-inflammatory activity of four monoterpenes (1 - 4) was evaluated by inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide-activated murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and four monoterpenoids exhibited inhibitory effect with IC₅₀ values of 71.5 ± 7.3, 74.7 ± 5.6, 48.0 ± 7.4 and 65.1 ± 3.7 μM, respectively.