Ecdysteroids act as molting hormones in insects and as nonhormonal anabolic agents and adaptogens in mammals. A wide range of ecdysteroid-containing herbal extracts are available worldwide as food supplements. The aim of this work was to study such an extract as a possible industrial source of new bioactive ecdysteroids. A large-scale chromatographic isolation was performed from an extract of Cyanotis arachnoidea roots. Ten ecdysteroids ( 1 – 10 ) including eight new compounds were isolated and characterized by extensive nuclear magnetic resonance studies. Highly unusual structures were identified, including a H-14β ( 1 , 2 , 4 , and 10 ) moiety, among which a 14β(H)17β(H) phytosteroid ( 1 ) is reported for the first time. Compounds with an intact side chain ( 4 – 10 ) and 11 other natural or semisynthetic ecdysteroids ( 11 – 21 ) were tested for insect ecdysteroid receptor (EcR) binding activity. Two new compounds, i.e., 14-deoxydacryhainansterone ( 5 ) and 22-oxodacryhainansterone ( 6 ), showed strong EcR binding activity (IC 50 = 41.7 and 380 nM, respectively). Six compounds were identified as EcR agonists and another two as antagonists using a transgenic ecdysteroid reporter gene assay. The present results demonstrate that commercial C. arachnoidea extracts are rich in new, unusual bioactive ecdysteroids. Because of the lack of an authentic plant material, the truly biosynthetic or artifactual nature of these compounds cannot be confirmed.

S Supplementary materialTetrahydroquinolines (THQs), a class of nonsteroidal ecdysone agonists, are good candidates for novel mosquito control agents because they specifically bind to mosquito ecdysone receptors (EcRs). We have recently performed quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analyses of THQs to elucidate the physicochemical properties important for the ligand-receptor interaction. Based on previous QSAR results, here, we newly synthesized 15 THQ analogs with a heteroaryl group at the acyl moiety and evaluated their binding affinity against Aedes albopictus EcRs. We also measured the larvicidal activity of the combined set of previously and newly synthesized compounds against A. albopictus to examine the contribution of receptor-binding to larvicidal activity. Multiple regression analyses showed that the binding affinity and the molecular hydrophobicity of THQs are the key determinants of their larvicidal activity.