Two novel compounds from the root bark of Morus alba L.

Chemical investigation of the root bark of Morus alba led to the isolation of a new flavone, dioxycudraflavone A (1) and a new 2-arylbenzofuran, 5-hydroxyethyl moracin M (2), together with seven known compounds namely sanggenon V (3), morusin (4), morusignin L (5), licoflavone C (6), moracin C (7), alfafuran (8) and mulberrofuran G (9). The structure elucidation of these compounds was based on analyses of spectroscopic data including 1D, 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS. All compounds were evaluated for the α-glucosidase inhibitory and cytotoxic activities. Compounds 2–4, 8 and 9 exhibited strong α-glucosidase inhibitory activities with IC₅₀ less than 10 μM, while only 4 and 9 showed moderate cytotoxic effects against lung cancer cells.