Novel sesquilignan and lignan glycoside from the twigs and leaves of Illicium majus.

A novel sesquilignan compound (1), possesing an unusual carbon skeleton of aryltetralin unit linked with a C6-C3 unit and a five-membered ring by a C-7″ and C-4 linkage pattern via an oxygen atom, and a new lignan glycoside (2) have been isolated from the twigs and leaves of Illicium majus. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis and chemical methods. The absolute configurations of 1 and 2 are confirmed by observing the circular dichroism. At 10 μM, Compounds 1 and 2 showed in Vitro inhibitory activity against the release of β-glucuronidase in rat polymorphonuclear leukocytes induced by platelet-activating factor.