New friedelane triterpenes from Anchietea pyrifolia

Anchietea pyrifolia, commonly known as woody liana, belongs to the Violaceae family and is being used in Brazil as a herbal medicine with anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, and depurative properties. However, our knowledge on the phytochemicals that confer pharmacological properties to the plant extract remains limited. We report the identification of three new friedelane-type triterpenes (1, 2a, 2b) and a new 30-norfriedelane triterpene (3) together with nine known compounds (4-12) that were isolated from the liana stems of A. pyrifolia. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including HRMS, and 1D/2D-NMR. In vitro cytotoxicity was assessed against two human cancer cell lines, HeLa and HL-60. The new triterpenes 1-3 and known compounds 9, 11, and 12 exhibited moderate activity with IC50 values ranging from 5.7 to 45.0 μM.