Studies On Chemical Constituents From Curcuma Wenyujin

Curcuma wenyujin, a plant of Curcuma genera, is the main resource of two Chinese traditional medicines Rhizoma Curcumae and Radix Curcumae, and has many pharmacological functions such as antitumor, antiinflammation, antivirus and liver protection. Usually, more attention is paid to essential oil and curcuminoids from this plant, but less attention to other constituents. For the purpose of making good use of the medicinal plant, 55% aqueous ethanol extraction as well as acidic water extraction are used to study the constituents from the rhizome of Curcuma wenyujin, and nine compounds are obtained. The constituents of the essential oil are also studied.From the essential oil of the rhizome of Curcuma wenyujin, twenty-three compounds are identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-infrared spectroscopy techniques.Two compounds are isolated from the rhizome of Curcuma wenyujin by means of acidic water extraction and silica gel column chromatography, and identified as two known compounds curdione and (1R,10R)-epoxy-(-)-l,10-dihydrocurdine.The 55% aqueous ethanol extract is processed by means of solvent partition, HP-20 macroporous adsorption resin, silica gel column and thin-layer chromatography. Seven compounds III—IX are obtained and their structures are elucidated on the basis of the data of IR, MS, 1D-NMR, 2D-NMR and physical properties. One of them is a new natural compound, named wenyujinlactone(VIII), and its stereostructure is clarified by nuclear Overhause effect spectroscope experiments. The others are identified as known compounds, which are P-sitosterol (III), curcumol(IV), aerugidiol (V), zedoarondiol (VI), isozedoaron-diol (VII) and neolitamone A (IX). Among these compounds, aerugidiol, zedoarondiol and isozedoarondiol are isolated from this species for the first time. Neolitamone A is a newly found compound from Zingiberaceae family.