Abstract
An indole alkaloid, 2-(5-hydroxy-1
-indol-3-yl)-2-oxo-acetic acid (
) isolated for the first time from nature, in addition to the nine known compounds 5-hydroxy-1
-indole-3-carboxylic acid methyl ester (
), alocasin B (
), hyrtiosin B (
), α-monopalmitin (
), 1-
-D-glucopyranosyl-(2
, 3
, 4
, 8
)-2-[(2(
)-hydroctadecanoyl) amido]-4,8-octadecadiene-1,3-diol (
), 3-
-betulinic acid (
), 3-
-ursolic acid (
),
-sitosterol (
) and
-sitosterol 3-
-D-glucoside (
) were isolated from the rhizomes of
(Araceae). Their structures were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic data. Of these compounds,
exhibited the strongest cytotoxicity against the four tested human cancer cell lines (IC
of about 10 µM against Hep-2 larynx cancer cells).