New Cholinesterase-Inhibiting Steroidal Alkaloids from Sarcococca saligna

Seven new steroidal alkaloids, 2‐hydroxysalignarine‐E (=(2′E,20S)‐20‐(dimethylamino)‐2β‐hydroxy‐3β‐(tigloylamino)pregn‐4‐ene; 1), 5,6‐dihydrosarconidine (=(20S)‐20‐(dimethylamino)‐3β‐(methylamino)‐5α‐pregn‐16‐ene; 2), salignamine (=(20S)‐20‐(methylamino)‐3β‐methoxypregna‐5,16‐diene; 3), 2‐hydroxysalignamine (=(20S)‐20‐(dimethylamino)‐2β‐hydroxy‐3β‐methoxypregna‐5,16‐diene; 4), salignarine‐F (=(2′E, 20S)‐20‐(dimethylamino)‐4β‐hydroxy‐3β‐(tigloylamino)pregn‐5‐ene; 5), salonine‐C (=(2′E,20S)‐20‐(dimethylamino)‐3β‐(tigloylamino)pregna‐4,14‐diene; 6), and N‐[formyl(methyl)amino]salonine‐B (=(20S)‐20‐[formyl(methyl)amino]‐3β‐methoxypregna‐5,16‐diene; 7) have been isolated from the MeOH extract of Sarcococca saligna, along with the six known alkaloids dictyophlebine (8), epipachysamine‐D (9), saracosine (10), iso‐N‐formylchonemorphine (11), sarcodinine (12), and alkaloid‐C (13). The structures of 1–7 were deduced from spectral data. Compounds 1–13 demonstrated significant activity against acetyl‐ and butyrylcholinesterase.