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A dichloromethane extract of Hakea amplexicaulis was found to cause strand scission of 4> X174 replicative form DNA inthe presence of Cu (II). Bioassay-guided fractionation of this extract afforded five compounds capable of mediating DNA relaxation. Structure determination of the active principles indicated that they were 5-tridecylresorcinol (1), 5-pentadec-cis-8-enylresorcinol (2), 5-heptadeca-8, ll-dienylresorcinol (3), 5-pentadecylresorcinol (4), and 5-heptadec-cis-8-enylresorcinol (5). As noted previously for compounds in this structural series, DNA cleavage was enhanced significantly by incubation under (alkaline) conditions known to promote oxygenation of the parent compounds on the aromatic nucleus.

Plant-derived natural products have long constituted a rich source of compounds useful as probes of biological systems and as medicinal agents (see, eg, ref 1-8). In addition to their intrinsic activities, the …