Two novel furostanol saponins from the tubers of Ophiopogon japonicus

Abstract

Phytochemical investigation of the fresh tubers of Ophiopogon japonicus led to the isolation of two new furostanol saponins (1 and 2) together with two known steroidal saponins (3 and 4). Comprehensive spectroscopic analysis allowed the chemical structures of two new compounds to be elucidated as (25R)-26-O-[β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-d-glucopyranosyl]-5-ene-furost-1β,3β,22α,26-tetraol-3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-[β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 4)]-β-d-glucopyranoside (1, ophiopogonin P) and (25R)-26-O-[β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranosyl]-5-ene-furost-1β,3β,22α,26-tetraol-3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-[β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 4)]-β-d-glucopyranoside (2, ophiopogonin Q). Furostanol saponins with the disaccharide chain linked at C-26 hydroxy group of the aglycone have been rarely reported from natural sources.

Keywords:

• Ophiopogon japonicus
• furostanol saponin
• ophiopogonin P
• ophiopogonin Q

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Miss. Mei-Feng Xu of the National Center of Biomedical Analysis for the measurements of the NMR spectra. This work was financially supported by the Major Program of Municipal Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (No. 7090001), and the Construct Program of the Key Discipline in Hunan Province and the Key Project from State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Hunan Province (No. 201211).

Notes

1. Co-first author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yu Guo

1

Yi-Xun Liu

1