The North-American bush Hamamelis virghliana L. (Hamamelidaceae) is successfully cultivated in the moist subtropical Adzhariya region of Georgia. The leaves and preparations of this plant are included in pharmacopeia of many countries and are widely used as a vascular circulation regulator, anti-inflammatory, antihemorrhagic, astringent, and cosmetic componentAccording to the literature, the leaves and bark ofH. virginiana contain tanning agents such as the gallic glycoside hamamelitannin, free gallic acid, flavonoids, and bitter principles [1, 4].The leaves of//. virginiana ~own in Georgia are rich in phenolic compounds, the total content of which reaches 14%, The phenolic compounds are isolated from aqueous alcohol extracts of the air-dried leaves (45 and 70% ethanol) with subsequent extraction by ethylacetate. The combined compounds are separated into the pure components by adsorption and partition chromatography on silica-gel, polyamide, and Sephadex (LH-20) columns using various solvent systems. The following flavonols, phenolcarboxylic acids, hydrolyzed tannides, anthocyanidines, and catechins were isolated: kaempferol (3,5,7,4'pentahydroxyflavone), mp 278-281~ ~a~ (EtOH) 368. 268 nm; quercetin (3,5,7,3',4'-pentahydroxyflavone), mp 311-314~ ~-,~ax (EtOH). 370. 255 rim: trifolin (kaempferol-3-O-13-D-galactoside), mp 192-194'~C, )'m~,x (EtOH), 354, 267 nm [5]; kaempferol-3-O-~-D-glucuronide, mp 175-178~C. Z,,a,,.~ (EtOH), 350, 266 nm [6, 71; hyperin (quercetin-3-O-~-D-galactoside), mp 235-239~ ~,,~L, (EtOH), 360, 262 nm [8]; quercituron or mikwelianin (quercetin-3-O-13-D-glucuronide), mp 189-190~ ~'~,ax (EtOH) 357. 257 nm [7]; caffeic, chlorogenic, and gallic acids, mp 192-194, 202-204. and 250-25 I'~C, respectively [8, 9]: hamamelitanin (2',5-digalloyihamamelose), mp 137-144~ [10]; cyanidine and delfinidine, ~'m,,~ 535,546 nm, respectively (in CH3OH-HCI) [9, 111; (+)-catechin, mp 175-176~C. ~'m,,x (EtOH), 280 nm [9]. The flavonoid galactosides and glucuronides are isolated tor the first time from H. rirginiana.

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The plants Sterculia platanifolia L. f. (Chinese parasol tree) (Sterculiaceae) and Hamamelis virginiana L. (American witchhazel) (Hamamelidaceae) have been used since antiquity in traditional medicine. Tincture of S. platanifolia is an official medicinal preparation used as a stimulant and tonic for asthenia, exhaustion, and reduction of muscle tone [1]. Leaves of H. virginiana are an ingredient of homeopathic preparations. The tincture and cream of extracts of this plant are used for vascular diseases [2-4]. Biological aspects of the growth and development of S. platanifolia and H. virginiana in the humid subtropics of Georgia have been studied. Recommendations for cultivation have been written. The plants have been cultivated at Kobulet Experimental Station for Medicinal Plants of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Both these species produce a large number of seeds, which prompted our interest in the study of their lipid composition.Air-dried ground seeds were extracted exhaustively with n-hexane at room temperature. Solvent was distilled off to afford neutral lipids (NL) as a yellow oily liquid for S. platanifolia (SP) (17.0%) and H. virginiana (HV) (12.0%).The physical chemical properties of the NL from SP and HV, respectively, were as follows: acid number (mg KOH), 12.0 and 4.5; d 4 20 -0.916 and 0.913; n D 20 -1.472 and 1.476; saponification number (mg KOH), 184.5 and 148.9; iodine number (% I 2 ), 76.6 and 171.3. TLC of NL from SP and HV on Silufol and silica gel plates (with 10% CaSO 4 ) in various solvent systems detected zones corresponding to hydrocarbons (HC), triacylglycerides (TAG), free fatty acids (FFA), free sterols (FS), 1,3-diacylglycerides (DAG), and phospholipids (PL). Column chromatography of NL with subsequent preparative TLC (PTLC) isolated from mixed fractions all basic NL classes [5, 6]. The ratios of individual classes were typical for lipids of higher plants. Total lipids and acyl-containing acids in them were hydrolyzed by KOH. Fatty acids (FA) were methylated by diazomethane [7] and analyzed by GC as the methyl esters [8] (Table 1).It has been found that NL from both plants have a simple fatty-acid composition and contain only 3-4 components, among which linoleic acid dominated.Phospholipids (PL) from defattted seeds of SP and HV were extracted and purified as before [5,9]. The yields of total phospholipids from SP and HV seeds were 0.21 and 0.14%, respectively.Total PL were analyzed and separated by two-dimensional PTLC on silica gel. Quantitative analysis of pure PL was performed by spectrophotometric methods [10]. Table 2 shows that the main component of PL from SP is phosphatidylcholine (PC). The regular distribution PC > phosphatidylinosite (PI) > phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) was observed. The PL from HV had a high content of PI, which was unusual for plant lipids. The presence in both plants of N-acylated derivatives of PE and lyso-phosphatidylethanolamine (lPE) was noteworthy.

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It is known that all the organs of Ficus carica L. (fig) contain the furocoumarins psoralen and bergapten [1]. On studying fig leaves collected in Georgia, we isolated a third component with the composition CiTHIsO 9 which gave the Molisch reaction for glycosides.