Coumarins of Anemone raddeana Regel. and their biological activity

To study the coumarins of Anemone raddeana Regel, the compounds were separated by silica gel column chromatography and HPLC.  Their structures were identified by their physicochemical property and spectral analysis.  Two new compounds were isolated and identified as 4, 7-dimethoxyl-5-methyl-6-hydroxy coumarin (1) and 4, 7-dimethoxyl-5-formyl-6-hydroxycoumarin (2).  The bioassays indicated that compounds 1 and 2 could significantly inhibit the proliferation of cancer cell, and showed the agonist effect on the transactivity of retinoic acid receptor-α (RARα).  In addition, the two compounds had inhibitory effect against human leukocyte elastase (HLE).