Studies On Chemical Compounds And Their Biosynthetic Pathways From Folk Medicinal Plant Cibotium Barometz

Cibotium barometz (L.) J. Sm. belongs to Dicksoniaceae family, which has beenranked in the secondary class of rare and endangered plant species in China. There wererich wild plant species in Jingxi County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. However,some wild rare and endangered species like C. barometz are illegally sold on the Dragon-boat Festival market of Jingxi County because of their high medicinal values.Up to now,some species are rarely found in the region. Therefore, it is necessary to study thetraditional medicinal knowledge of C. barometz and verify its material basis by modernscience and technology, and discuss the possible biosynthetic pathways of the compoundswhich come from this species for further synthetics as well. In this way, we can not onlydecrease the pressures of the wild resource which caused by growing market demands andprotect biodiversity, but also utilize it comprehensively for sustainable development.An ethnobotanical survey had been conducted for the Dragon boat festival market ofJingxi county and Cibotium barometz. Finally, according to the results, we analyzed thecauses of problems and proposed suggestions for improvement both to the market and theendangered species.Sixteen compounds were isolated by the phytochemical methods and identified bymodern spectroscopic techniques from rhizome of Cibotium barometz, including threeterpenoids [24-Methylenecy-cloartanol (001), Oleanlic acid(004), Ursolic acid,(005)],three sterides [Stigmast-4-ene-3-one (002), β-Sitosterol (003), β-Sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucoside (013)], two pterosins [Onitin (007), Onitin-2′-O-β-D-glucoside (015)], sevenaromatic compounds [Protocatechuic aldehyde (006), Vanillin (008), Ferulic acid (009),Caffeine (010), p-Hydroxy cinnamic acid (011), Protocatechuic acid (012), Cibotibarom-eside (014)], and one glucoside [n-Butyl-β-D-fructopyranos-ide (016)].These compounds also supported the traditional medical usage of Cibotium barometzas an ethnomedicine to eliminating rheumatism and tonifying kidney are rational and scientific, as well as speculated the mechanisms of specific treatment-hemostasis by goldenhair scale.The proposed biosynthetic pathways of these compouds were discussed. Evidencefrom the literature suggests that the aromatic compounds are derived from shikimatepathway, and pterosins are the derivatives with aromatic compounds. And also terpenoidsare derived from mevalonate pathway and deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway, and thenderivatized to sterides.