(+/-)-Homocrepidine A, a Pair of Anti-inflammatory Enantiomeric Octahydroindolizine Alkaloid Dimers from Dendrobium crepidatum

A pair of racemic indolizidine enantiomers, (+/-)-homocrepidine A (1), and a piperidine derivative, homocrepidine B (2), were isolated from Dendrobium crepidatum along with the known alkaloid crepidine (3). The racemic mixture of 1 was separated into a pair of enantiomers, (+)-1 and (-)-1, by HPLC using a chiral chromatographic substrate, which represents the first successful example of resolving indolizidine racemic mixtures. The absolute configurations of (+)-1 and (-)-1 were assigned from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity with LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages revealed that (+)-1 strongly inhibited the production of nitric oxide (IC50, 3.6 mu M) and significantly decreased the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, while (-)-1 and (+/-)-1 only had moderate inhibitory effects (IC50, 22.8 and 14.7 mu M). Compound 2 showed moderate anti-inflammatory activity (IC50, 27.6 mu M).