A new bithiophene, 5-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-1-butyny)-2,2′-bithiophene (1), and sixteen known thiophenes: 2-(3,4-dihydroxybut-1-ynyl)-5-(penta-1,3-diynyl)thiophene (2), α-terthienyl (3), 5-(3,4-dihydroxybut-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (4), 5-acetyl-2,2′-bithiophene (5), 5-formyl-2,2′-bithiophene (6), methyl 2,2′-bithiophene-5-carboxylate (7), 5-(but-3-en-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (8), 5-(4-isovaleroyloxybut-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (9), cardopatine (10), isocardopatine (11), 5-(3-hydroxy-4-isovaleroyloxybut-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (12), 5-(3-hydroxymethyl-3-isovaleroyloxyprop-1-ynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (13), 5-(4-hydroxy-1-butynyl)-2,2′-bithiophene (14), 5-(4-acetoxy-1-butynl)-2,2′-bithiophene (15), 2,2′-bithiophene-5-carboxylic acid (16) and 2-(4-hydroxybut-1-ynyl)-5-(penta-1,3-diynyl)thiophene (17) were isolated from the roots of Echinops grijisii Hance. Among them, compounds 6, 7 and 16 were isolated from a natural source for the first time. Compounds 2, 4 and 14 exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity against nitrite of LPS-stimulated production in the RAW 264.7 cell line.

Three new iridoids, namely neonanin A (1), neonanin B (2) and neoretinin A (3), as well as twelve known compounds, 6-hydroxy-7-methyl-1-oxo-4-carbomethoxyoctahydrocyclopenta[c]pyran (4), 4-epi-alyxialactone (5), loganetin (6), loganin (7), phenylcoumaran-α′-aldehyde (8), cleomiscosin A (9), ficusal (10), balanophonin (11), vanillic acid (12), p-coumaric acid (13), cis,trans-abscisic acid (14), and trans,trans-abscisic acid (15) were isolated from the stems of Neonauclea reticulata (Havil.) Merr. These new structures were determined by the detailed analysis of spectroscopic data and comparison with the data of known analogues. Compounds 1–13 were evaluated using an in-vitro MTT cytotoxic assay for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, and the preliminary results showed that ficusal (10), balanophonin (11), and p-coumaric acid (13) exhibited moderate cytotoxic activity, with EC50 values of 85.36 ± 4.36, 92.63 ± 1.41, and 29.18 ± 3.48 µg/mL against Hep3B cells, respectively.