Studies On The Constituents Of Cultivated Glycyrrhiza Uralensis Fisch. And Cynanthum Atratum Bge.

Licorice, the roots and rhizomes of some Glycyrrhiza species (Leguminosae) is a Traditional Chinese Medicine. Clinical studies of licorice make it one of the most thoroughly studied herbs. Since the natural resource of wild licorice is about exhaustion, this plant is cultivated in China. Yet, there is still no report on chemical studies of the cultivated licorice. A phytochemical investigation on the roots of G. uralensis Fisch. resulted in the isolation of eighteen compounds. Their structures were established as licobichalcone (1), licochalcone B (2), isoliquiritigenin (3), licochalcone A (4), echinatin (5), liquiritigenin (6) , 4',7-dihydroxyflavone (7), licoflavone A (8), glabrone (9), formononetin (10), medicarpin 3-O-glucoside (11), isoliquiritin (12), liquiritin (13), licuraside (14), [liquiritigenin-apiosyl (1→2)glucoside] (15), ononin (16), 6,7-dihydroxy coumarin (17), p-hydroxybenic acid (18) by NMR analysis and comparison with the reference data. In a further study on the leaves of this species, eleven compounds were isolated. On the basis of spectroscopic evidence, their structures were elucidated as 6,5'-diprenylluteolin (19), chrysoeriol (20), kaempferol 3-O-glucoside (21), quercetin 3-O-glucoside (22), undecanoic acid, 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl) ethyl ester (23), docosanoic acid,(2, 2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl) methyl ester (24), docosanoic acid, 2, 3-dihydroxypropyl ester (25), tetracosanoic acid, 2, 3-dihydroxypropyl ester (26), docosanoic acid, 22-hydroxy-,2, 3-dihydroxypropyl ester (27), tetracosanoic acid, 24-hydroxy-,2 , 3-dihydroxypropyl ester(28), hexadecanoic acid (29). Among them, compounds 1, 19 and 23 were the new compounds, compounds 17, 18, 24-28 were isolated from the genus for the first time and compounds 9 and 29 were isolated from the plant for the first time.Cynanchum atratum Bge. (Asclepiadaceae) is a perennial herb and its roots, commonly called "Bai Wei" in Chinese, have been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of hectic fevers, acute urinary infection and abscesses. A chemical investigation on C. atratum resulted in the isolation of 37 C21 steroidal glycosides. 15 of them were identified as cynanosides A (30), cynanosides B (31), cynanosides C (32), cynanosides D (33), cynanosides E (34), cynanosides F (35), cynanosides G (36), cynanosides H (37), cynanosides I (38), cynanosides J (39), cynatratoside F (40), cynatroside B (41), atratoside A (42), atratoside B (43), atratoside C (44). Among them, 30-39 were new compounds. The absolute stereochemistry of the new compounds was determined on the basis of spectroscopic analysis...