Unusual matrine–adenine hybrids isolated from Sophora davidii and their inhibitory effects on human cytomegalovirus

Abstract

A phytochemical investigation on the flowers of Sophora davidii resulted in the isolation of three unusual matrine–adenine hybrids, sophovicines A–C, together with biogenetically related analogue sophocarpine. Their structures and absolute configurations were determined by NMR analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data. Since sophovicines represent the first example of matrine-adenine hybrids, a putative biosynthetic pathway toward sophovicines A–C was proposed. In addition, computational molecular modeling suggested that compounds sophovicines B and C may have potent activities against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). So, the inhibit effects of isolates on HCMV were evaluated. The results show that sophovicines B and C can inhibit HCMV replication effectively with IC50 values of 7.12 and 7.32 μM, respectively.