Anti-inflammatory sesquiterpenes and diterpenes from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f.

Eight previously undescribed compounds (1-8) and six known congeners (9-14) were isolated from the roots of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. Their structures were determined through extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analysis, in conjunction with computational methods including DP4+ probability analysis and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. In anti-inflammatory evaluations, compounds 1-2, 7-8 and 12 significantly inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW264.7 macrophages, with IC50 values ranging from 3.54 to 33.44 μM. Furthermore, compounds 1 and 8 markedly reduced the secretion of pivotal inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β in the same cell model. These results not only enrich the structural diversity of diterpenoids identified from T. wilfordii but also highlight their potential as promising lead compounds for anti-inflammatory drug development.