Leea asiatica (L.) Ridsdale (Leeaceae) is found in tropical and subtropical countries and has historically been used as a traditional medicine in local healthcare systems. Although L. asiatica extracts have been found to possess anthelmintic and antioxidant-related nephroprotective and hepatoprotective effects, little attention has been paid toward the investigation of phytochemical constituents of this plant. In the current study, phytochemical analysis of isolates from L. asiatica led to the identification of 24 compounds, including a novel phenolic glucoside, seven triterpenoids, eight flavonoids, two phenolic glycosides, four diglycosidic compounds, and two miscellaneous compounds. The phytochemical structures of the isolates from L. asiatica were elucidated using spectroscopic analyses including 1D- and 2D-NMR and ESI-Q-TOF-MS. The presence of triterpenoids and flavonoids supports the evidence for anthelmintic and antioxidative effects of L. asiatica.

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Introduction Camellia japonica L. (Theaceae) is an evergreen shrub, which is cultivated as a popular ornamental tree in Korea, China, and Japan and its seeds have been used as a source of cooking oil, in cosmetics and as a traditional medicine. Intensive phytochemical works have revealed that oleanane‐type saponins are the characteristic compounds of the seeds of C. japonica. Objective The purpose of the present study is to isolate and determine oleanane‐type saponins from C. japonica using high‐performance countercurrent chromatography (HPCCC) coupled with reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) and spectroscopic evidences, respectively. Methodology HPLC electrospray ionisation quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (ESI‐Q‐TOF‐MS) was applied to profile the saponin composition of an enriched saponin extract of C. japonica seeds. The enriched saponin extract was separated by HPCCC using a dichloromethane/methanol/isopropanol/water (9:6:1:4, v/v/v/v) system and RP‐HPLC. The structures of the isolates were determined utilising ESI‐Q‐TOF‐MS, one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional NMR and optical rotation. Results HPCCC on enriched saponin extract of C. japonica yielded four saponin fractions in the order of the number of sugars attached to the triterpene aglycone, and preparative RP‐HPLC on each saponin fraction led to the isolation of nine novel saponins, namely camoreoside A–I, along with six known ones. Conclusions This study indicates that combination of HPLC‐ESI‐Q‐TOF‐MS analysis and HPCCC coupled with RP‐HPLC are excellent tools for discovering saponins from natural sources.

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