Chemical Constituents Of Pulsatilla Chinensis (Bge.) Regel

Pulsatilla chinensis (Bge.) Regel is a perennial herb indigenous to many parts of the frigid and variable , including north and northeast China regions. The rhizome of the Pulsatilla Genus was also an important traditional Chinese medicine, and had the effects of antidysenteric, antipyretics and detoxification. Currently, the extract of radix of the Pulsatilla Genus have been reported to have potent antivirus, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic activities. Previous studies on constituents from the Pulsatilla genus led to the isolation of different compounds such as triterpenoids, triterpene saponins, lignans, oleoresins and coumarins.During the course of our investigation for bioactive agents from the EtOH extract of roots of Pulsatilla chinensis, 32 compounds were obtained by using silica gel column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 chromatography, MPLC, and Semi-HPLC, and structures of 27 compounds were elucidated through spectroscopic analysis (NMR, MS and IR ). Their structures were identified to be tetracosanoic acid (P1), behenic acid (P2), 4, 7-dimethoxy-5-methylcoumarin (P3), caffei acid (P4), Ferulic acid (P5), betulonic acid(P6), betulinic acid (P7), 23-hydroxybetulinic acid (P8), ursolic acid (P9), oleanolic acid (P10), hederagonic acid (P11), Hederagenin (P12), 3β-[(O-β-D- glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranosyl)oxy]lup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (P13), 3β-[(O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranos- yl)oxy]lup-20(29)-en-28-oicacid (P14), 23-hydroxy-3β-[(O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranosyl)oxy]lup-20(29)-en-28-oicacid(P15), 23-hydroxy-3β-[(O-β-D- glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-L-arabinopyranosyl)oxy]lup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (P16), 23-hydroxy-3β-[(O-α-L- arabinopyranosyl)oxy]lup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (P17), Olean- olic acid 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranoside (P18), Oleanolic acid 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranoside (P19), Oleanolic acid 3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside (P20), Hederagenin 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L- arabinopyranoside (P21), Hederagenin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-α-L-arabono- pyranosyl (P22), Hederagein 3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside (P23), Hederagein 23-O-α-L- arabinopyranoside (P24), Oleanolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-glucop- yranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (P25),β-sitosterol (P26),β-daucostero (P27). Among them, compounds P1, P2, P4, P5, P6, P7, P9, P14, P20, P24 and P25 were obtained from this genus for the first time, and compounds P10, P12 and P16 were obtained from this plant for the first time.The antitumor activitis of P21 were screened. The triterpene saponins showed some bioactivities, which suggested that triterpene saponins might be, at least in part, responsible for the proposed therapeutic effect of the roots of Pulsatilla chinensis.