Triterpenes and other minor chemical constituents of Boophone haemanthoides F.M. Leight (Amaryllidaceae)

Abstract

The chemical investigation of the nonpolar constituents of a methanol extract of the bulbs of Boophone haemanthoides yielded ten known compounds as minor constituents. The compounds were identified as stigmast-4-ene-3,6-dione (1); cholest-4-en-3-one (2); (22E)-stigmast-4,22-dien-3-one (3); stigmast-4-en-3-one (4); 6b-hydroxystigmast-4-en-3-one (5); 6b-hydroxycholest-4-en-3-one (6); cycloartenol (7); acetovanillone (8); tyrosol (10) and 3-hydroxy-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propanone (11). The isolation of compound 7 with other cholestane (2, 6) and stigmastane (1, 3 5) derivatives aligned with the biosynthetic pathway of plant steroids through 7 from squalene 2,3-epoxide. This is the first report on the isolation and identification of these compounds from B. haemanthoides and 1 6 and 11 for the family Amaryllidaceae.