Two New Cytotoxic Naphthoquinones from <i>Mendoncia cowanii</i> from the Rainforest of Madagascar

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the root and stem extracts of Mendoncia cowanii led to the isolation of two new and two known naphthoquinones. The structures of the new compounds, avicequinones D and E (1 and 2), were determined using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and by chemical conversion of compound 1 to 2. The new compounds were active in the A2780 human ovarian cancer cell line with IC50 values of 7.4 - 50 microM, respectively, and 1, 3, and 4 were subsequently found to be weakly active in an assay for inhibition of the kinase Akt.