Arnequinol A and arnequinone A, two unique meroterpenoids from Arnebia euchroma

Arnequinol A(1),featuring an unprecedented 6/6/3 tricyclic carbon skeleton fused with a heptatomic oxo-bridge,together with arnequinone A(2)bearing a highly conjugated methyl-shifting benzogeijerene skeleton,were isolated from Arnebia euchroma.Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectro-scopic methods and quantum chemical calculations of the 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)data and electronic circular dichroism(ECD)spectra.The plausible biosynthetic pathways for 1 and 2 were presented.In in vitro test,compound 2 showed potent neuroprotective activity against serum-deprivation induced PC12 cell damage at a concentration of 10μmol/L.