Atlanticol, an epoxybicyclogermacrenol from the liverwort Plagiochila atlanticaF. Rose

The proton NMR fingerprints of the CDCl(3) extracts of small quantities of seven specimens of the liverwort Plagiochila atlantica from Scotland and England are very similar and are dominated by the spectrum of the 2,3-secoaromadendrane plagiochiline C. Atlanticol, a new epoxybicyclogermacrenol, was present in all the extracts to the extent of ca. 10% of plagiochiline C and was isolated using TLC. Characterisation and structural elucidation by means of NMR, GC/GC-MS and HREI (and CI) MS showed that atlanticol is (1R*,2R*,3S*,4E,6S*,7S*,10S*)-3,14-diacetoxy-1,10-epoxybicyclogermacr-4-en-2-ol. The secondary metabolites of P. atlantica are characteristically different from those of P. spinulosa, the liverwort with which P. atlantica has most often been confused.