Coumaronochromones, flavanones, and isoflavones from the twigs and leaves of Erythrina subumbrans inhibit PTP1B and nitric oxide production

A chemical investigation of the twigs and leaves of Erythrina subumbrans led to the isolation and structural elucidation of three coumaronochromones, erythrinasubumbrin A and (±)-erythrinasubumbrin B, five prenylated flavanones, (±)-erythrinasubumbrin C and erythrinasubumbrins D–F, and two prenylated isoflavones, (±)-5,4ʹ-dihydroxy-[4,5-cis-4-ethoxy-5-hydroxy-6,6-dimethyl-4,5-dihydropyrano (2,3:7,6)]-isoflavone, in addition to 18 known analogues. Two extra cinnamylphenols previously only known as commercial synthetic products were also isolated and elucidated from a natural source for the first time, and assigned the trivial names erythrinasubumbrins G and H. Their structures were characterized by detailed analysis of spectroscopic data, including HRESIMS and 2D NMR. The absolute configurations of the previously undescribed isolates and the known coumaronochromone lupinol C were determined by specific rotation and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data. All the isolates were evaluated for their inhibitory activities on protein tyrosine phosphatase 1 B (PTP1B) and nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced BV-2 microglial cells as well as their cytotoxicity against the HCT116 cell line. The pair of enantiomers, (+)-5,4ʹ-dihydroxy-[4,5-cis-4-ethoxy-5-hydroxy-6,6-dimethyl-4,5-dihydropyrano (2,3:7,6)]-isoflavone and (−)-5,4ʹ-dihydroxy-[4,5-cis-4-ethoxy-5-hydroxy-6,6-dimethyl-4,5-dihydropyrano (2,3:7,6)]-isoflavone, and the known compounds lupinol C, 4ʹ-O-methyl-8-prenylnaringenin, glepidotin B, shuterin, parvisoflavones A, luteone, lupiwighteone, 2,3-dehydrokievitone, 6,8-diprenylgenistein, angustone A, and 2ʹ-O-demethylbidwillol B exhibited different levels of PTP1B inhibitory activities with IC50 values ranging from 3.21 to 19.17 μM, while erythrinasubumbrin A, (−)-erythrinasubumbrin B, (+)-5,4ʹ-dihydroxy-[4,5-cis-4-ethoxy-5-hydroxy-6,6-dimethyl-4,5-dihydropyrano (2,3:7,6)]-isoflavone, (−)-5,4ʹ-dihydroxy-[4,5-cis-4-ethoxy-5-hydroxy-6,6-dimethyl-4,5-dihydropyrano (2,3:7,6)]-isoflavone, and the known compounds lupinol C, 8-prenylnaringenin, macatrichocarpin A, alpinumisoflavone, and 2ʹ-O-demethylbidwillol B substantially inhibited NO production in BV-2 microglial cells. In addition, 8-prenylnaringenin showed weak cytotoxicity with an IC50 value of 9.13 μM. This is the first report of PTP1B inhibitory activity for a coumaronochromone.