Eight compounds were isolated from the leaves of Clerodendrum inerme, including one new rearranged abietane diterpene, crolerodendrum B (1). Their structures were determined by means of spectroscopic methods including one-dimensional and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (1-D and 2-DNMR), high-resolution electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS) and circular dichroism (CD). The DPPH radical scavenging and cytotoxic activities of isolated compounds against MCF7 (breast), HCT116 (colon) and B16F10 (melanoma) cancer cell lines were evaluated. Compounds 1, 3 and 4 exhibited strong DPPH radical-scavenging effects (ED50 values of 17.6 ± 2.1, 10.1 ± 0.8 and 11.3 ± 0.3 μM, respectively) and 4 showed strong cytotoxicity against the HCT116 cell line (IC50 = 3.46 ± 0.01 μM).
Keywords: Clerodendrum inerme; Verbenaceae; abietane diterpene; antioxidant; crolerodendrum B; cytotoxic.