Paraliane and pepluane diterpenes as anti-inflammatory agents: First insights in structure–activity relationships

Two new diterpenes, named paralianone (2) and pepluene (3), based, respectively, on rare paraliane and pepluane skeletons, have been isolated from Euphorbia paralias, together with two known analogues (4 and 5), and their stereostructure determined by spectroscopic methods. The isolated compounds were tested as anti-inflammatory agents in vitro for evaluating their ability to inhibit the nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated J774 murine macrophages. Compound 4 showed the highest anti-inflammatory activity comparable to those recently discovered for pepluanone (1). The data obtained provided first insights towards the structure–activity relationship of this class of compounds highlighting the key role of D-ring structure.