Phytochemical investigation of extracts of the stems of Hypoestes aristata led to the isolation of nine lignans that included four known compounds, namely, hinokinin (1), savinin (2), medioresinol (3), and two cubebins (8a,b), three new butyrolactone lignans (4−6), and butyrolactol lignans 7a−c. The structures of the new compounds were established using 1D and 2D NMR and HRESIMS data. The absolute configurations of the new lignans were determined from their ECD data and the Mosher's ester method. This is the first unequivocal assignment of the absolute configuration at C-7 and C-7′ of 7-and 7′hydroxybutyrolactone lignans. The compounds were screened for inhibition of an HIV-1 protease enzyme, and compounds 1 and 6 exhibited moderate activity in this regard.

In the study, ultraperformance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight–mass spectrometry analysis of Leucosidea sericea leaf and stem extracts led to the identification of various classes of compounds. Further chromatographic purifications resulted in the isolation of 22 compounds that consisted of a new triterpenoid named leucosidic acid A ( 1 ), an acetophenone derivative 2 , a phloroglucinol derivative 3 , three chromones 4–6 , seven pentacyclic triterpenoids 7–13 , a phytosterol glucoside 14 , a flavonoid 15 , and seven flavonoid glycosides 16–22 . Nineteen of these compounds including the previously undescribed triterpenoid 1 are isolated for the first time from L. sericea . The structures of the isolated compounds were assigned based on their high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance data. Some of the isolated triterpenoids were evaluated for inhibitory activity against α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and pancreatic lipase. Of the tested compounds, 1-hydroxy-2-oxopomolic acid ( 7 ) and pomolic acid ( 13 ) showed higher potency on α-glucosidase than acarbose, which is used as a positive control in this study. The two compounds inhibited α-glucosidase with IC 50 values of 192.1 ± 13.81 and 85.5 ± 6.87 μM, respectively.