A phenylpropanoid dimer from the leaves of Piper betle

Phytochemical analyses of the chloroform extract of Piper betle L. var. Sanchi, Piperaceae, leaves led to the isolation of a new phenylpropanoid analogue for the first time: hydroxychavicol dimer, 2-(γ'-hydroxychavicol)-hydroxychavicol (S1), on the basis of spectroscopic data 1 D (¹H and ¹³C) and 2 D (¹H-¹H COSY and HMBC) NMR, as well as ESI-MS, FT-IR, HR-ESI-MS and LC-ESI-MS. Compound S1 exhibited excellent antioxidant DPPH radical scavenging activity with IC₅₀ values of 9.07 μg/mL, compared to ascorbic acid as a standard antioxidant drug with IC₅₀ value of 3.41 μg/mL. Evaluation of cytotoxic activity against two human colon cancer cell lines (HT 29 and COLO-205) showed significant effect with GI₅₀ values of 73.81 and 64.02 μmol/L, compared to Doxorubicin® as a standard cytotoxic drug with GI₅₀ value of <10 μmol/L.