A new lignan named schilignan F (1), together with twelve known ones (2-13), were isolated from the rattan stems of Schisandra chinensis. Their chemical structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including one and two-dimensional NMR spectra referring to the literatures as well as high-resolution mass spectrometric analysis. All compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicities against human Hela cancer cell lines in vitro. The results showed that compounds 2, 6 and 8 exhibited weak cytotoxic activity with IC50 values of 30.6, 86.3 and 41.0 μM, and cisplatin showed cytotoxic activity with IC50 value of 27.3 μM.
Keywords: cytotoxicity; lignan; natural products.