[Chemical constituents from scammony resin]

The chemical constituents of the Uygur medicinal material scammony resin were investigated using a combination of normal-phase silica gel chromatography, reversed-phase ODS chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 chromatography, and semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). Twenty-seven compounds were isolated and identified from its methanol extract. Among them, compound 1 was a new compound and was named scammonoid A(1). The remaining twenty-six known compounds were identified as dehydroabietic acid(2), 7-oxo-dehydroabietic acid(3), 7β-hydroxy-dehydroabietic acid(4), 7α-hydroxydehydroabietic acid(5), 15-hydroxy-dehydroabietic acid(6), 15-methoxy-dehydroabietic acid(7), 7-oxo-15-hydroxy-dehydroabietic acid(8), 7α,15-dihydroxy-dehydroabietic acid(9), dabeshanensin L(10), cephasinene B(11), abietic acid(12), 12-methoxy-7,13-abietadien-18-oic acid(13), 12-oxoabieta-7,13-dien-18-oic acid(14), 7-oxo-13β-hydroxyabiet-8(14)-en-18-oic acid(15), aquilarabietic acid B(16), 9,13β-epidioxy-8(14)-abieten-18-oic acid(17), karamatsuic acid(18),(1 R,4 aR,5 R,8 aR)-6-formyl-1, 4a-dimethyl-5-( 4-methyl-3-oxopentyl)-1, 2, 3, 4, 4a, 5, 8, 8a-octahydronaphthalene-1-carboxylic acid(19), 16-nor-15-oxodehydroabietic acid(20), 8(14)-podocarpen-13-on-18-oic acid(21), abiesanordine E(22), junicedric acid(23), methyl-entlabd-8(17)-18-oic acid-15-oate(24), ent-isopimara-8,15-dien-7-oxo-18-oic acid(25), ent-isopimar-8(14),15-dien-19-oic acid(26), and isopimaric acid(27), all of which were isolated from scammony resin for the first time. In vitro cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) inhibitory assays showed that compounds 2, 4, 6, 15, 16, and 21 exhibited certain inhibitory activity. This study provides a chemical reference for the quality evaluation and further development and utilization of scammony resin.