During the course of our research on the isolation and identification of bioactive polyphenols in Dipterocarpaceaeous plants, we have previously reported the structural variety of resveratrol oligomers in Upuna borneensis. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Further detailed examination of the acetone extract of stem yielded two new resveratrol tetramers, upunaphenols O (1) and P (2). The structure of isolates 1 and 2 were elucidated by means of 2D NMR techniques such as 1 H-1 H shift correlation spectroscopy (COSY), 13 C-1 H COSY, and 1 H-
13C heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation (HMBC), and the stereostructures were proposed by analysis of the nuclear Overhauser spectroscopy (NOESY) spectra.
Results and DiscussionUpunaphenols (Fig. 1, Table 1) showed the presence of ortho-coupled aromatic protons assignable to three 4-hydroxylphenyl groups (rings A 1 , B 1 and D 1 ), a 4-oxygenated phenyl group (ring C 1 ), three sets of meta-coupled aromatic protons on a 1,2,3,5-tetrasubstituted benzene ring (rings A 2 , B 2 and C 2 ), and a 3,5-dihydroxyphenyl group (D 2 ). The NMR spectral data also disclosed the presence of two sets of aliphatic signals characteristic for 2,3-diaryldihydrobenzofuran moieties (H-7a/H-8a; H-7d/H-8d), 8) two coupled aliphatic methine protons (H-7b/H-8b), cis-coupled olefinic protons (H-7c/H8c), and nine phenolic hydroxyl groups (d H 7.97-8.64). Considering the molecular formula, the remaining three oxygens can be allocated to ether linkage. In the HMBC spectrum (Fig. 1), significant 3 J correlations were observed between H-7a/C-2a(6a), H-14a/C-8a, H-7b/C-2b(6b), H-14b/C8b, H-7c/C-2c(6c), H-8c/C-14c, H-7d/C-2d(6d), and H-8d/C10d(14d), indicating that rings A 1 , A 2 , B 1 , B 2 , C 1 , C 2 , D 1 , and D 2 are attached at C-7a, C-8a, C-7b, C-8b, C-7c, C-8c, C-7d, and C-8d, respectively. Further correlations observed between H-8a/C-11b, H-7b/C-11a, and H-8d/C-11c supported ; Japan: c Microbial Chemistry Research Center; Japan: d Botanical Gardens, Koishikawa, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo; Japan: and e Indonesian Institute of Sciences; Jalan Ir. H. Juanda 13, Bogor 16122, Indonesia. Received December 15, 2008; accepted February 16, 2009; published online February 25, 2009 Phytochemical investigation of an acetone extract of Upuna borneensis (Dipterocarpaceae) resulted in the isolation of two new resveratrol tetramers, upunaphenols O (1) and P (2). The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis including NMR experiments.