Wood Extractives: A New Diterpene Diol From Araucaria imbricata

The thesis has been divided into two sections. Section I deals with the elucidation of the structure of a new diterpene diol, C20H36O2, isolated from the neutral part of the light petroleum extract of the bark of Chile pine (Araucaria imbricata). The diol belongs to the labdane series of diterpenoids and has been shown to have a primary hydroxyl group at C and a secondary hydroxyl group at C. Section II(a) describes the examination of the extractives of the woods of Dipterocarpus crinitus and Araucaria brasiliensis. The nonsaponifiable portion of the benzene extract of the wood of D. crinitus yielded betulin as the major constituent while both woods gave beta-sitosterol and ceryl alcohol. Section II(b) describes the separation of triterpenes by thin-layer chromatography using silica gel. It has been found that triterpenes having different functional groups for example alcohols, ketones and esters can be separated but individual members of the same class can not be separated. It has also been shown that triterpene alcohols may be separated from steroid alcohols by this procedure