Five new compounds, 4-O-geranylisoliquiritigenin (1), 12-dihydrousararotenoid B (2), 12-dihydrousararotenoid C (3), 4'-O-geranyl-7-hydroxyflavanone (4), and 4'-O-geranyl-7-hydroxydihydroflavanol (5), along with 12 known natural products (6-17) were isolated from the CH2Cl2/MeOH (1:1) extract of the root bark of Millettia usaramensis ssp. usaramensis by chromatographic separation. The purified metabolites were identified by NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses, whereas their absolute configurations were established on the basis of chiroptical data and in some cases also by X-ray crystallography. The crude extract was moderately active (IC50 = 11.63 μg/mL) against the ER-negative MDB-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line, and accordingly compounds 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 16 also showed moderate to low cytotoxic activities (IC50 25.7-207.2 μM). The new natural product 1 exhibited antiplasmodial activity with IC50 values of 3.7 and 5.3 μM against the chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 and the chloroquine-resistant Dd2 Plasmodium falciparum strains, respectively, and was also cytotoxic to the HEK293 cell line.

The known flemingins A-C (1-3) and nine new chalcones, named flemingins G-O (4-12), along with deoxyhomoflemingin (13) and emodin (14) were isolated from a leaf extract of Flemingia grahamiana. The isolated chalcones were found to have a geranyl substituent modified into a chromene ring possessing a residual chain, as shown by spectroscopic methods. The leaf extract showed an IC50 value of 5.9 μg/mL in a DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging assay. The chalcones flemingins A, B, C, G, and H were active in the DPPH radical scavenging assay (ED50 4.4-8.9 μM), while flemingins A and C showed cytotoxicity against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells (IC50 8.9 and 7.6 μM, respectively).

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