Phytochemical investigation of
Physalis angulata was initiated following primary biological screening. Fractionationof CHCl
3 and
n-BuOH solubles of the MeOH extract from the whole plant was guided by
in vitro cytotoxic activityassay using cultured HONE-1 and NUGC cells and led to the isolation of seven new withanolides, withangulatins B-H(
1-
7), and a new minor physalin, physalin W (
8), along with 14 known compounds, including physaprun A,withaphysanolide, dihydrowithanolide E, physanolide A, withaphysalin A, and physalins B, D, F, G, I, J, T, U, and V.New compounds (
1-
8) were fully characterized by a combination of spectroscopic methods (1D and 2D NMR andMS) and the relative stereochemical assignments based on NOESY correlations and analysis of coupling cons
tants.Biological evaluation of these compounds against a panel of human cancer cell lines showed broad cytotoxic activity.Withangulatin B (
1) and physalins D (
10) and F (
11) displayed potent cytotoxic activity against a panel of humancancer cell lines with EC
50 values ranging from 0.2 to 1.6
g/mL. Structure-activity relationship analysis indicatedthat withanolides and physalins with 4
ta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-hydroxy-2-en-1-one and 5
ta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">,6
ta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-epoxy moieties are potential cytotoxic agents.