Targeted discovery of clerodane diterpenoids from Tinospora sinensis as immunomodulatory agents

Under the guidance of MS/MS-based molecular networking, five new clerodane diterpenoid glucosides, tinosinesides R-V (1–5), along with 15 known diterpenoids (6–20), were isolated from the stems of Tinospora sinensis. Compound 1 represents the first example of diterpenoid bearing a thio sugar and compound 5 is the first 18,19-dinor-clerodane with cis-fused A/B ring. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic means, and their absolute configurations were established on the basis of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) based electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation and chemical methods. Selected compounds were evaluated for their immunomodulatory effect and several compounds could enhance the proliferation of B lymphocytes. Preliminary mechanistic studies disclosed that 3 could promote B cell generation and inhibit B cell differentiation.