Neuroprotective and Anti-inflammatory Ditetrahydrofuran-Containing Diarylheptanoids from <i>Tacca chantrieri</i>

Three new dimeric diarylheptanoids, taccachanfurans A–C (1–3), a new monomeric diarylheptanoid, taccachannoid A (4), and four known diarylheptanoids (5–8) were isolated from the EtOH extract of the rhizomes of Tacca chantrieri. Their structures were established on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic data analysis. The absolute configuration of taccachanfuran A (1) was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. All the diarylheptanoid dimers contain a ditetrahydrofuran moiety, which has not been described previously for diarylheptanoid compounds. A plausible biosynthetic pathway for the diarylheptanoid dimers is proposed. Compounds 2–4 showed significant neuroprotective activity against Aβ25–35-induced damage in SH-SY5Y cells at the concentrations of 10 and 1 μM. Compounds 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 showed anti-inflammatory activity in LPS-stimulated murine microglial BV-2 cells at the concentrations of 10 and 1 μM.