The hypothesis of tautomeric equilibrium between epimers in ciquitins A and B

Recently, ciquitins A and B isolated from the powdered and defatted airdried aerial parts of Leucophyllum ambiguum were reported as a mixture of conformers in a solution at room temperature. Considering the existence of a hemiacetal hydroxyl fragment in the ciquitins A and B, they are more likely to exist in the form of epimer rather than the mixture of conformers. To confirm this hypothesis, the NMR calculations of two epimers at C-9 (1-a and 1-b) were performed and the results matched well with experimental NMR data of mixtures (1). Moreover, a brief discussion on the reason for this hypothesis was also presented.