Catunaregam spinosa T. (Rubiaceae), distributed in tropical and semitropical areas, was known as a folk medicine in India and Brazil for its antispasmodic, antidysenteric, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antifertility properties. [1][2][3][4] Many phytochemical research has been done on this plant, and coumarin glucosides, 5) iridoid glucosides, 1) and triterpenoid saponins 4,6,7) were found. Our previous investigations on this plant had led to the isolation of iridioid, 8) norneolignans, 9) triterpenoid saponins. 10,11) In continuation of our studies on the plants, four new triterpenoid saponins, Catunarosides I-L, together with Arjunetoside and Randiasaponin VII, were isolated from the n-BuOH extract of its stem bark by preparative HPLC. The isolation and structure determination of those triterpenoid saponins were elucidated in this paper.
Results and DiscussionCompound 1 was obtained as a colorless amorphous powder. The molecular formula C 48 H 78 O 20 was determined by a combination of NMR spectra and high resolution-electrospray ionization (HR-ESI)-MS which exhibited a molecular ion peak at m/z: 997.4980 [M+Na] + (Calcd for C 48 H 78 O 20 Na:977.4984). On acid hydrolysis, 1 afforded only glucose as sugar moiety that was identical to an authentic sample by Silica gel TLC. The IR spectrum showed absorption bands at 3417 cm −1 (OH), 1726 cm −1 (C=O), 1643 cm −1 (C=C). The 13 C-NMR spectrum exhibited 48 signals, of which 30 were assigned to the aglycone moiety and 18 to the sugars. In the 1 H-NMR spectrum, seven methyl protons (δ 1.37, 1.05, 0.96, 1.14, 1.63, 1.14 and 0.98 ppm; each 3H, s), one olefinic methine proton (δ 5.49, br s), and three anomeric protons (δ 4.91, d, 8.0 Hz; 5.29, d, 7.5 Hz; 6.38, d,8.0 Hz) were observed. The 13 C-NMR spectrum also showed seven methyl carbons at δ 28.4, 18.0, 16.6, 17.6, 24.9, 28.7 and 24.6 ppm, two olefinic carbons at δ 122.9 and 144.3 ppm, three oxygenated methine carbons at δ 66.6, 95.7 and 81.0 ppm, and three anomeric carbons at δ 106.0, 105.9 and 95.9. Based on the above data, it was deduced that 1 was an olean-12-ene type triterpenoid glycoside with three units of glucose. The comparison of 1 H-and 13 C-NMR spectrum data of aglycone part of 1 with that of arjunic acid 12) indicated that compound 1 possessed a 2α,3β,19α-trihydroxyolean-12-ene-28-oic acidic aglycone. The chemical shifts of C-3 (δ 95.7) and C-28 (δ 177.2) 13) implied that 1 was a 3,28-bisdesmosidic glycoside. This hypothesis was also in agreement with the relatively downfield shifts of anomeric protons (δ 4.91, 6.38 ppm) and the corresponding upfield shifts of anomeric carbons (δ 106.0, 95.9 ppm). In the heteronuclear multiple bond connectivity (HMBC) spectrum, significant correlations between signals at δ 4.91(H-1′) and δ 95.7 (C-3), δ 5.29 (H-1″) and δ 88.9 (C-3′), and δ 6.37 (H-1⁗) and δ 177.2 (C-28) were observed. The β-anomeric configurations of glucose units were determined by the relatively large 3 J H1, H2 coupling constants (7.5-8.0 Hz). Considering above information compound 1 was e...