Study On Chemical Constituents Of The Radix Of Curcuma Aromatica Salisb.

Curcuma,belonging in the family Zingiberaceae,consists of nearly 60 species,of which 16 species are mainly distributed in the southeastern and southwestern parts of China.Their mainly chemical components include terpenoids and diphenylheptanes.Most of plants from Curcuma have been used as Chinese medincins,and Curcuma aromatica Salisb.is one of them.Based on the records in Medicinal Theory,the radix of C.aromatica has good effects on pain relief and usually been used to promoting blood circulation in clinic,and treatment of heartache,stagnant blood,menstrual cramps,abdominal distension,diet hysteresis,amenorrhea and injuries.In order to further study of chemicals from that plant,the extract of 75%ethanol of the radix of C.aromatica was carried on separation by a series of chromatographic techniques.As results,43 compounds were isolated and identified by spectroscopic methods,including twenty-four sesquiterpenes(1-8,11-26),four diterpenes(9-10,27-28),eleven diphenylheptanes(29-34,37-41),two phenols(35-36)and two sterols(42,43)compounds.Among them,1 is novel sesquiterpene with unprecedented skelcton,29 and 30 are dimeric diphenylheptanes islated from Curcuma for the first time,2-8 are new sesquiterpenes,9-10 are new diterpenes,31-34 are new diphenylheptanes,and 35-36 are new phenols.Bioactivie assay showed compounds 1,2,5-8,11-12,14,16,18-19,29-31,33,37-38,40-41 displayed obvious inhibition against injury induced by H2O2 on PC12 cells(P<0.001).This study provides a preliminary basis for the further development of this plant.Moreover,the chemicals from Curcuma were reviewed.