Isolation and Structural Studies on the Chemical Constituents of Pulsatilla chinensis

Abstract

For the investigation of bioactive natural products with sortase A (SrtA) inhibitory effect, various extracts of Korean herbal medicine were evaluated. Consequently selected for chemical investigation was the dried root of Pulsatilla chinensis (Ranunculaceae) which is an oriental folk medicine used mainly for amoebic dysentery, malaria, vaginal trichomoniasis, and bacterial infections. Using the bioactivity-guided chromatographic separation, in conjunc- tion with spectral analyses, the isolated compounds were structurally identified to be ten lignans and ten triterpenoidal saponins, in total twenty compounds. Among the isolated compounds, two lignans were determined to be the new ones having the opposite stereochemical configurations from known ones based on optical rotation and NOESY analysis.