Naphthalene Derivatives from the Roots of Pentas parvifolia and Pentas bussei

The phytochemical investigation of the CH2Cl2/MeOH (1:1) extract of the roots of Pentas parvifolia led to the isolation of three new naphthalenes, parvinaphthols A (1), B (2), and C (3), two known anthraquinones, and five known naphthalene derivatives. Similar investigation of the roots of Pentas bussei afforded a new polycyclic naphthalene, busseihydroquinone E (4), a new 2,2′-binaphthralenyl-1,1′-dione, busseihydroquinone F (5), and five known naphthalenes. All purified metabolites were characterized by NMR and MS data analyses, whereas the absolute configurations of 3 and 4 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The E-geometry of compound 5 was supported by DFT-based chemical shift calculations. Compounds 2–4 showed marginal cytotoxicity against the MDA-MB-231 human triple-negative breast cancer cell line with IC50 values ranging from 62.3 to 129.6 μM.