Studies on the Constituents of Cimicifuga Species

The chemical constituents of Cimicifuga simplex and its retated species were reexamined using HPLC and high resolution spectral analysis. From C. simplex, C. acerina and C. japonica, a new alkaloid, 59 new cycloartane triterpene glycosides and 11 new aromatic constituents were isolated with the previously reported compounds. The latter aromatic constituents were identiˆed in HPLC analysis of the extracts from crude drugs due to C. dahurica, C. heracleifolia and C. foetida. Several interesting topics in this study are reviewed about separation of unstable and closely related com-pounds by HPLC, rearrangement reactions, chemical conversion for conˆrmation of absolute conˆguration, isomerism in NMR solutions, X-ray crystal analysis, spectral analysis of complicated structures, isolation of glycoside malonates, high yield of enzymatic hydrolysis, speciˆc CD curve due to a cycloart-7-ene system, and so on. Biological activities of a major glycoside, cimicifugoside, a modiˆed triterpene, acerinol, and benzyltartaric acid derivatives such as fukinolic acid and cimicifugic acids were also mentioned. Key words―Cimicifuga species; chemical constituent; structural elucidation; biological activit