Chemical constituents of stems and leaves of Vaccinium myrtillus

1. Introduction The study of natural compounds is a tÍaditional part of organic chemistry with rich history. The development of the isolation methods like chromatography and spectral methods enables studying of these compounds in viable organisms more in detail. The new techniques for very fast assesment ofbiological activity allow targeted searching for biological active compounds. The extract from plants is only roughly sepaÍated and the biological activity is meassured often against many viruses, microorganisms and types of cancer. The fractions with interesting results are searched further until the compounds responsible for the biological activity are found. Because of the high content of anthocyanines and flavonoids in fruits of Vaccinium myrtillus, there is a big interest in the study ofthese compounds and study of their effect on human health. The extracts not only from the fruits but also from the leaves are part of folk medicine and classic health care in treatment of the inflammatory diseases. The biological activity ofthe extracts is caused not only by flavonoids but also by isoprenoid compounds such as oleanolic acid, which is often talked about without any scientific proof. Publications involving natural compounds are usually only about one type of compounds - anthocyanines, flavonoids,..