Cytotoxic Terpenoids from the Roots of Dracocephalum taliense.

A chemical investigation of methanol extract from the roots of Dracocephalum taliense led to the isolation of a new aromatic abietane diterpenoid, 12-methoxy-18-hydroxy-sugiol (1), and one highly-oxygenated ursane triterpenoid, 2α,3α-dihydroxy-11α,12α-epoxy-urs-28,13β-olide (2), together with 15 known natural products (3-17). Among these, compounds 1-13 and 15-17 were detected for the first time in the genus of Dracocephalum. The structures of all of these isolates were determined by extensively spectroscopic analyses. In the anti-inflammatory assay, compounds 1 and 2 had no obvious inhibitory activity on the release of cytokine IL-2 in lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. However, compound 2 exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against cell lines HepG2 (IC50 = 6.58 ± 0.14 μM) and NCI-H1975 (IC50 = 7.17 ± 0.26 μM).