Bitter Shek Lin's Chemical Composition

Semen Caesalpiniae were the seed of Caesalpinia minax Hance,which was a native perennial herbal plant belonging to the Caesalpinia genus,and was mainly distributed in the low altitude district.The therapeutic application of Semen Caesalpiniae.has long been used in folk medicine for its promoting blood flow,alleviating pain,and it was also applied in the clinic for its' inhibition to dysentery,injury from fall and so on.In order to find more and more active agents from this plant,by means of the repeated column chromatography,recrystallizing and preparative TLC,seven known compounds were isolated from the EtOAc-soluble fraction of the 95%EtOH extracts of the Semen Caesalpiniae.Their structures were characterized on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and chemical evidence.These compounds included six diterpenes,Neocaesalpin L1(1), Caesalmin C(4),Caesalmin D(5),Caesalpin F(6),Minaxin A(7),Minaxin B(8);two steroidals,β-sitosterol(9)and daucosterol(10);one triterpenoid,β-amyrin(2),and together with Caffeine(3).Among them,compounds 1,7,8 were new compounds,and 2,3 were isolated for the first time from Caesalpinia.