The co-occurrence of bufadienolides and podophyllotoxins from Helleborus thibetanus

Abstract

Phytochemical investigation of Helleborus thibetanus led to the isolation of two new bufadienolides with a trans A/B ring fusion mode (1–2) and two known ones (3–4), three podophyllotoxins (5–7), two flavones (8 and 9), one phytoecdysteroid (10), one spirostane (11) and one pseudo-spirostane (12). The structures of the new compounds were identified using extensive spectroscopic analyses and the known compounds were identified by comparing the spectral data with those previously reported. Isolation of bufadienolides with a trans A/B ring fusion mode could be chemotaxonomic marker for the differentiation of H. thibetanus from the toad venom and other plants of this genus, on the other hand, co-occurrence of podophyllotoxin from H. thibetanus supported the inclusion of Berberidaceae and Ranunculaceae in the same monophyletic order Ranunculales based on the outgroup comparison and parsimony analysis.