Five structurally related pimarane diterpenes isolated from the roots of Viguiera arenaria and a further compound obtained by chemical derivatization were evaluated in vitro against the trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. The natural compound ent-15-pimarene-8 beta,19-diol and the derivative ent-8(14),15-pimaradiene-3beta-acetoxy showed the highest trypanocidal activity, displaying IC(50) values of 116.5 +/- 1.21 and 149.3 +/- 1.07 microM, respectively, while the positive control, violet gentian, showed an IC(50) of 76 microM. Based on the results, it can be concluded that minor structural differences among the tested diterpenes influence significantly the trypanocidal activity, thus bringing new perspectives to the establishment of structure-activity relationships among this type of metabolites to the treatment of Chagas' disease.
(c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.