Chemical constituents from the endophytic fungus Aspergillus sp. S3 of Hibiscus tiliaceus

A new sterol, aspersterol E (1), a newly discovered alkaloid, asperginine A (2), and five known compounds (3-7) were obtained from the endophytic fungus Aspergillus sp. S3 of Hibiscus tiliaceus Linn. The compounds were extracted from their fermentation products using silica gel, ODS C18, and semi-preparative HPLC. The structure of each compound was determined through spectroscopic analysis. All the obtained compounds (1-7) were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against the mouse pre-gastric cancer cell line MFC by using the MTT assay. The IC₅₀ values of compounds 1, 2, 3, and 5 were found to be 153.43 μM, 61.25 μM, 73.19 μM, and 181.69 μM respectively.