Studies On The Chemical Constituents And Biological Activities Of Juncus Effusus L.

Juncus effusus L. (Family Juncaceae, Genus Juncus L.) is widely distributed throughout the temperature and frigid zone, which is commonly found in marsh. It has been used as a folk medicine in treating insomnia, pyrexia, urethritis, eclampsia and fever sore in China and Japan.In our investigation of chemical constituents and biological activities from Juncus effusus L. (collected in Hubei province in China), thirty compounds were isolated by the methods of normal-phase and reverse-phase silica gel column chromatography, PTLC, etc. Among them, twenty-one compounds were elucidated on the basis of chemical and spectral methods. Six new compounds were named as7-carboxy-2-hydroxy-1-methyl-5-vinyl-9, 10-dihydrophenanthrene (1), 2,7-dihydroxy-1-methyl-pyrene (2), 7-hydroxy-2-methoxy-1-methyl-pyrene (5), 2,7-dihydroxy-5-hydroxymethyl-1-methyl-phenanthrene (7), effusenone A (10), 2,3-isopropylidene-1-O-ferulic acid glyceride (17). Other fifteen known compounds were identified as: dehydroeffusal (3), 2,7-dihydroxy-1, 6-dimethyl-pyrene (5), dehydroeffusol (6), juncusol (8),2,7-dihydroxy-1-methyl-5-vinyl-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene (9),β-sitosterol (11), 3β-hydroxy-5α,8α-epidiocyergosta-6E,22E-diene (12), 7-oxo-β-sitosterol (13), stigmast-4-en-6β-ol-3-one (14), (24R)-stigmast-4-ene-3-one (15), daucosterol (16), (2S)-2,3-isopropylidene-1-O-p-coumaroyl glyceride (18), p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (19), 3-hydroxy-2,5-hexadione (20), luteolin-5,3′-dimethyl ether (21), compounds 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20 and 21were isolated from this genus for the first time.The antibacterial activities of compound 6 were tested against nine bacterial strains by paper disco diffusion method. The results showed good inhibitory effect on four tested gram (+) bacteria and Candian albicans, and no inhibitory effect on four tested gram (-) bacteria, which indicated that compound 6 is a potential inhibitor for gram (+) bacteria.Three 9,10-dihydrophenanthrenes were tested to detect their effects on the green alga Selenastrum capricornutum. It was found that compound 3 caused great inhibition of algal growth with IC50 value of 1.2mg/L(4.8μM); compounds 1 and 6 had no significant inhibitory effects.