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Chemical investigation of the petroleum ether extract of heartwood of Tecomella undulata led to the isolation of tectonaquinone B (1), 2-methylquinizarin (2) along with tecomaquinone I (3), lapachol (4), 2-isopropenylnaphtho[2,3-b]-furan-4,9-quinone (5), dehydro-α-lapachone (6), α-lapachone (7), and β-lapachone (8). This is the first report of isolation of tectonaquinone B and 2-methylquinizarin from this plant. The structures of compounds were elucidated by advanced spectroscopic methods. Molecular docking study for potential inhibitory action toward CDK7 (cyclin-dependent kinase 7) were performed, which proved that these compounds have high binding affinities with the receptor protein (CDK7). 2-Methylquinizarin exhibited best docking score (-7.70 kcal/mol) among all the tested compounds. The present study showed that 2-methylquinizarin may exhibit potent anticancer activity through inhibiting CDK7 via interaction with Met94.

Chemical investigation of the chloroform extract of heartwood of Tectona grandis L. f. led to the isolation of three new naphthoquinone derivatives, tectonaquinones A ( 1 ), B ( 2 ) and C ( 3 ), along with six known compounds: barleriaquinone-I ( 4 ), tectoquinone ( 5 ), tecomaquinone I ( 6 ), lapachol ( 7 ), obtusifolin ( 8 ) and 2-hydroxy-3-methyl anthraquinone ( 9 ). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including 2 D NMR experiments. Tectonaquinone B is the first natural compound that has a hexa-cyclic dinaphthofuran-dione scaffold. Tectonaquinone C has a bicyclic acetal motif that is unusual in nature.