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Kaempferia marginata rhizomes are used as an herb in food and as traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammatory-related diseases in Asian countries. In contrast to the previously reported phytochemical investigation of Thai and Chinese K. marginata rhizomes, which demonstrated the presence of sandaracopimaradiene and ent-sandaracopimaradiene, our first investigation of Vietnamese K. marginata rhizomes led to the isolation of eight undescribed pimarane diterpenoids, marginols A‒H, along with 18 known pimarane diterpenoids. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic techniques, including 1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS, and CD spectroscopy and/or by comparisons of their NMR data with previously reported data. Furthermore, evaluations of the NO production inhibitory activity against LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells revealed that the undescribed compounds, marginols B and D‒G, and the known compounds, sandaracopimaradien-6β,9α-diol-1-one and 6-acetoxysandaracopimardien-9-ol-1-one, showed potent activities. These results provide insights into the chemodiversity of Vietnamese K. marginata rhizomes as well as their traditional usage from the viewpoint of their chemical constituents.

Two new sesquiterpene aminoquinones, langcoquinones A ( 1 ) and B ( 2 ), together with seven known meroterpenoids ( 3 ⿿ 9 ), were isolated from the marine sponge Spongia sp. collected in Vietnam. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic analyses and comparisons with published data. The antibacterial activities of the isolated compounds ( 1 ⿿ 9 ) were investigated against four bacterial strains. Among these, the new sesquiterpene aminoquinones ( 1 and 2 ) and the known related compounds ( 3 , 5 , 6 , 8 , and 9 ) exhibited significant antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis , with MICs ranging from 6.25 to 12.5 μM.