Phenylpropenol ester and sesquiterpenoids with antimetastatic activities from the whole plants of Chloranthus japonicus

One new phenylpropenol ester (1) and three new lindenane sesquiterpenes (2–4) were isolated from the whole plant of Chloranthus japonicus together with three known lindenane derivatives (5–7). Their structures were determined based on detailed spectroscopic and electronic circular dichroism computational analyses. Compound 4 showed moderate efficacy in inhibiting cell migration, invasion, and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) in human of hepatocarcinoma (HCC) HepG2 cells. Furthermore, compound 4 could alter the expression of the proteins Vimentin, N-cadherin, Snail1 and E-cadherin by down-regulating the expression of Twist1, which indicated that its antimetastatic effect was associated with restraining the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in HepG2 cells.