[Studies on the active principles of the Chinese drug "shanglu" (Phytolacca esculenta Van Houtte). II. The isolation and structure of esculentoside E and F].

In a previous paper we reported the isolation of esculentoside A, B, C and D from Phytolacca eseulenta Van Houtte. In pharmacological experiments the total saponins and esculentoside A exerted considerable enhancement of phagocytic function of leucocytes and promoted DNA synthesis in mice. In further search for active principles, four kinds of crystals (Ⅰ), (Ⅱ), (Ⅲ) and (Ⅳ) were isolated from the 0.01 M pH 7.3 phosphate buffer extract of the plant by silica gel column chromatography. On the basis of chemical properties and spectral data (NMR, ~(13)CNMR, UV, IR, Ms spectra), crystal (Ⅰ) was shown to be 2-hydroxyl esculentic acid, i.e. jaligonic acid which has been considered to have good antiinflammatory action; crystal (Ⅱ) was found to be 3-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-2-hydroxylesculentic acid and was named as esculentosid E which is identical to phytolaccoside G from Phytolacca americana. Crystal (Ⅲ) is 3-O(β-D-glucopyranosyl-β-D-xylopyranosyl)_(1→4)-2-hydroxyl esculentic acid named as esculentoside F. Esculentoside E was first obtained from this plant and esculentoside F so far has not been reported in literature. Because of the scanty sample of crystal (Ⅳ), its structure is still under investigation.