LAUSR

Patrinia (Valerianaceae) includes 20 species and is distributed mainly in the regions of central to west Asia and northwest of North America, of which 10 species are found in China. Many of them have been long used as medicinal herbs in China from ancient times, especially in traditional chinese medicine (TCM). Patrinia scabiosaefolia Fisch. is a perennial herb with characteristic odor, widely distributed in most areas of China and recorded as the most important and popular herbal medicine in TCM for this genus [1]. The whole plant and root of P. scabiosaefolia are known as “Baijiang” in TCM and are commonly used for the treatment of fever, intestinal abscess, postpartum abdominal pain, and insomnia [2]. Recent pharmacological studies indicated that P. scabiosaefolia produces significant antitumor, anti-inflammatory, sedative, and hypnotic activities [3–5]. Previous chemical investigations have led to the isolation of several compound classes including triterpenoids, iridoids, flavonoids, coumarins, and sterols [6–9]. As part of our ongoing search for biologically active compounds from the genus Patrinia [10, 11], a chemical investigation of the roots of P. scabiosaefolia was carried out. Here we describe the isolation and structural identification of nine compounds (1–9) and evaluate the cytotoxic activity of two active neolignans (1 and 2) against 41 tumor and two normal cell lines. From a 90% methanol extract of the root of P. scabiosaefolia, nine compounds (1–9) were obtained. Their structures were characterized as patrineolignan A and B (1 and 2) [10], 3-(4 -D-glucopyranosyloxy-3-methoxy)-phenyl-2E-prophenol (3) [12], syringic acid-4-O-L-rhamnopyranoside (4) [13], 2,3-dihydroxypropyl 9Z,12Z-octadecadienoate (5) [14], clovane-2 ,9 -diol (6) [15], caryolane-1,9 -diol (7) [15], 20-hydroxyecdysone (8) [16, 17], and -sitosterol (9) [18] by the spectroscopic analysis and by comparison with literature data reported previously. All compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time except -sitosterol (9).