Turpinia arguta(Lindl.) Seem. is a shrub endemic to southern China. Its leaves are used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of pharyngitis, amygdalitis, and tonsillar abscess.

For illuminating the main functional constituents of T. arguta, Prof. WEI Xiaoyi and PhD student WU Min, etc. in the lab of Phytochemistry of South China Botanical Garden, CAS isolated five monoterpenoid indole alkaloids. Among them, two are newly found compounds, and named turpiniside A and turpiniside B, respectively. The five monoterpenoid indole alkaloids were also found to have DNA strand scission activity, and turpiniside A (B52) was found to be the strongest DNA cleavage agent, which were suggested that the DNA strand scission activity of these monoterpenoid indole alkaloids were structure-dependent.

The results provide chemical clues for better understanding of the medicinal application of T. arguta, and were published on the journal, Planta Medica (2011, 77: 284-286).

Monoterpenoid indole alkaloids from T. arguta