ABSTRACT
Objective: Dichocarpum auriculatum, an endangered perennial herb, is endemic to China and has been used as folk medicines for the treatment of cough, hepatitis, scrofula, and epilepsy. However, there is no phytochemical report on this herbal so far. For the resource development and protective importance of this endangered medicinal plant, a phytochemical study was undertaken. Methods: The chemical constituents were purified by silica gel column, Sephadex LH-20 column, and semi-preparative reversed phase HPLC. NMR and MS spectra were used for structural identification. Results: Thirteen compounds were isolated from D. auriculatum. Their structures were characterized as jatrorrhizine (1), berberine (2), steponine (3), magnoflorine (4), coclauril (5), menisdaurin (6), menisdaurilide (7), aquilegiolide (8), (6R, 9S)-3-oxo-α-ionol-β-D-glucopyranoside (9), blumenol C glucoside (10), palmitic acid (11), dibutylphthalate (12), and auriculatum A (13). Conclusion: Compound 13 is a new diester terephthalate derivative. All the compounds are obtained from the genus Dichocarpum for the first time, and compounds 9 and 10 have potential chemotaxonomic significance to the genus Dichocarpum.