Study Of Chemical Constituents And Inhibitory Activity On Acetylcholinesterase Of Chimonanthus Nitens Leaves

Chimonanthus nitens Oliv., which belongs to Chimonanthus, Calycanthaceae,is endemic to China. A lot of studies showed its leaves have broad pharmacological activity, so it is profitable to be exploited.In this study, we adopted ultrasonic-assisted extraction in room temperature with organic solvents and organic solvent extraction to the leaves of C. nitens, at last, we got ethanol extract, petroluem ether extract, ethyl acetate extract and n-Buoh extract.We adopted modified Ellman method to test the antiacetylcholinesterase activity of petroluem ether extract, ethyl acetate extract, n-BuOH extract and H2 O soluble parts of C. nitens leaves,the ethyl acetate extract shouwed highest AChE inhibition rate, its IC50 is 13.27 mg/mL。To explain the material basis of C. nitens leaves, the research adopted GC-MS method to test the chemical composition of petroluem ether extract with the result that 47 comounds were identied.The ethyl acetate extracts were separated by multiple techniques including silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. 12 compounds were isolated from the C. nitens leaves. Structures of 8 compounds were identified by MS and NMR as β-sitosterol(Compound 1), isofraxidin(Compound 2), stigmasterol(Compound 3), scopoletin(Compound 5), quercetin(Compound 6), kaempferol(Compound 7), d-Calycanthine(Compound 8)and Berberine(Compound 10). We adopted modified Ellman method to test 7 compounds’ acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity. The IC50 of compound 8 and 10 is 24.39 μM, 9.84 μM, respectively.This study provides scientific foundations for exploitment and utilization of the leaves of C. nitens, and also provides some reference to find new, more efficient natural plant sources acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.