Trypterigium wilfordii

Wilfordin, tryptofordin and celangulin (Fig. 14) are antifeedant compounds obtained from extracts of the Celastraceae species Maytenus rigida [78], Trypterigium wilfordii [79] and Celastrus angulatus [77, 80], respectively, and as some products isolated from South American species have similar structural characteristics, they too have been assayed. 

Quite different are the chemical features of some newer antiperoxidative triterpenoids from Trypterigium wilfordii, because they have highly unsaturated A and B rings with a quinonoid-like structure over a friedooleanane skeleton. The main datum to be noted is that celastrol, the most representative compound of this series, inhibits mitochondrial LP, with an IC50 - 7 iM. Its potency is then 15 times higher than that of a-tocoferol. Furthermore, it has been observed that while celastrol and its acetyl derivative affect the radical chain reaction in a biphasic manner, a-tocoferol and pristimerin, a celastrol-methyl ester, do it monotonously. 

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