Chemical Constituents Of Three Liverworts

The bryophytes are taxonomically placed between the algae and the pteridophytes. Morphologically, they are divided into three classes, liverworts (Hepaticae), mosses (Musci), and hornworts (Anthocerotae). There are more than 1600 liverworts worldwide, among about 800 species of which have been found in China. They provide abundant resources for research. Although they are located at the low position on evolutionary scale, various diterpenoids and aromatic compounds which exhibit significant biological activities, are isolated from the liverworts in the last years.In this research, three Chinses liverworts, Ptychanthus striatus (Lehm. & Lindemb.) Nees. and Notoscyphus collenchymatosus Gao Jia et Cao. collected from Guizhou Province, and Jungermannia (p.) Obovata. Nees. collected from Anhui Province were phytochemically investigated. A total of 30 secondary metabolites, including 19 diterpenoids,7 sesquiterpenoids, a bisbibenzyl and 3 aromatic compounds, were isolated by column chromatography (CC) on MCI, silica gel, reversed-phase C18 silica gel and Sephadex LH-20, as well as by HPLC. Their structures were identified on the basis of NMR, MS and CD. Nine of them were new compounds, containing three labdane-type diterpenoids, and six dolabrane-type diterpenoids. This is the first time that phytochemical study on the plant of Notoscyphus collenchymatosus Gao Jia et Cao. and Jungermannia (p.) Obovata. Nees.