We report herein the first access of ß-elemene derivatives through the SeO₂-mediated oxidation reaction. Several new compounds were isolated through such one-step reaction, and their structures were elucidated using various 2D-NMR techniques. This method provides easy access to multiple oxidative ß-elemene derivatives in one single step, and represents the first cyclohexyl ring modifications of ß-elemene. It’s expected to open up the opportunity for future derivatization on cyclohexyl ring of ß-elemene. The new compounds obtained above showed better anti-proliferation activities on several cancer cell lines than ß-elemene itself.

The ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ¹H-¹H COSY, ¹H-¹H NOESY, HMBC, HSQC are recorded in 500 MHz NMR machine. The data were processed in MestReNova software.

There is no any special instruction to obtain the data. Anyone in this field knows how to record NMR experience and how to interpret data.