Two new taxoids, taxumairol Q (1) and 13-O-acetyl wallifoliol (2), have been isolated from the leaves and twigs of Taxus sumatrana. Taxuspine F and wallifoliol (10) have been isolated for the first time from the yew T. sumatrana. Seventeen known taxoid diterpenoids have also been isolated. The new derivatives, 9,13-diacetyltaxumairol W (3), 10,13-dibenzoyltaxacustin (4), 7,13-diacetylwallifoliol (5), 7,13-dibenzoylwallifoliol (6), and 7,9-dibenzoyltaxumairol P (7), have been prepared by acylation of a crude mixture of taxoids. All structures were established primarily on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR techniques, including DEPT, COSY, and HMBC experiments, as well as chemical correlation with known compounds. Wallifoliol (10) exhibited significant cytotoxicities against both Hepa 59 T/VGH (human liver carcinoma) and KB (human oral epidermoid carcinoma) tumor cells. Taxuspine F and compound 5 possessed moderate activity against Hepa cells only, while 3, 6, 7, and 10-deacetylbaccatin III showed only marginal activity against Hepa cells.

Bioassay-directed fractionation of the acetone extract of Clavularia inflata collected in Green Island has afforded two new dolabellane diterpenoids, designated as clavinflols A (4) and B (5) in addition to the reported (1R*,12R*)-dolabella-4(16),7,10-triene-3,13-dione (1), stolonidiol (2) and stolonidiol monoacetate (3). The structures of compounds 4 and 5 were determined on the basis of 1D and 2D-NMR techniques including COSY, HSQC, HMBC and NOESY experiments, and acetylation which yielded derivatives 6 and 7, respectively. Pharmacological study revealed that compounds 1-3 and 5 exhibited cytotoxicity against human oral epidermoid carcinoma (KB) cells while compound 4 showed selective activity toward human Hepa cells.

Two new taxane diterpenoids, tasumatrols A (1) and B (2), have been isolated from extracts of the leaves and twigs of Taiwanese Taxus sumatrana. Tasumatrol A is a rare 5/6/6 taxene system, having a novel gamma-lactone at C-10 and C-19. The structures of compounds 1 and 2 were determined on the basis of two dimensional (2D)-NMR techniques, including correlation spectroscopy (COSY), 1H-detected heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC) and heteronuclear multiple bond connectivity (HMBC) experiments.