No abstract

Four new steroidal saponins, named neosibiricosides A-D (1-4), were isolated from the rhizomes of Polygonatum sibiricum, along with two known spirostanol glycosides. The structures of the new glycosides were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and acid hydrolysis as (23S,24R,25R)-1-O-acetylspirost-5-ene-1beta,3beta,23,24-tetrol 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-fucopyranoside (1), (25S)-1-O-acetylspirost-5-ene-1beta,3beta-diol 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1-->3)]-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-galactopyranoside (2), (25S)-spirost-5-en-3beta-ol 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1-->3)]-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-2-O-acetyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (3), and (25R,S)-spirost-5-en-3beta-ol 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)-beta-D-galactopyranoside (4). The cytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated with human MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Preparative centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) was successfully carried out for the separation of sinomenine from the methanolic extract of Sinomenium acutum stems and rhizomes. The optimum two-phase solvent system of CPC was composed of n-hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water at a volume ratio of 1:6:2:8 (v/v/v/v) with 0.1% triethylamine (TEA). Preparative CPC yielded 44.3 mg of sinomenine from 400 mg of MeOH extract with a purity of 96.9%.