Summary: | <i>Lysimachia foenum-graecum</i> Hance (Primulaceae) is a medicinal plant used for cold, pain, ascariasis, etc., in China. Triterpenoid saponins have been found to be the main components of this genus. In this work, a pair of oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins with an unprecedented 4/5/6 fused tricyclic skeleton, foegraecumoside O (<b>1</b>) and foegraecumoside P (<b>2</b>) were isolated from the butanol fraction of the aerial parts of <i>L. foenum-graecum</i>. Their structures were determined using chemical methods and extensive spectroscopic analyses, along with quantum chemical calculations. Compound <b>2</b> displayed moderate cytotoxicity against HepG2, MGC-803, T24, NCI-H460, A549, and A549/CDDP (drug-resistant lung-cancer cell line) with IC<sub>50</sub> at 12.4–19.2 μM in an MTT assay, comparing with the positive control doxorubicin, which had IC<sub>50</sub> at 0.53–4.92 μM, but was inactive for A549/CDDP. Furthermore, a possible biosynthetic pathway for forming compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> was proposed.
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