INTRODUCTIONFagonia cretica L. is a well-known desert medicinal plant which belongs to the family Zygophyllaceae. It is a small annual herb with woody branches. Fagonia is a genus of 34 species confined to warm areas of all continents except Australia. F. cretica is reputed to be a medicinal plant in scientific and folkloric literature and its medicinal values are well documented. An aqueous decoction of the aerial parts of the plant is the popular remedy in the indigenous system of medicine for cancer in its early stages and for the treatment of various diseases of digestive and blood vascular system 1-4 . Previously flavonoids and triterpenoidsaponins have been reported from this species [5][6][7] . The ethanopharmacological and chemotaxonomic importance of the genus Fagonia prompted us to investigate the chemical constituents from F. cretica. Our detailed investigations have led to the discovery of a new compound 1 (fagonoside A Fig. 1), assigned as 22-hydroxyursane 12-ene-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside. The compound 1 was identified by IR, MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques. EXPERIMENTALThe melting point was determined on a Gallenkemp melting point apparatus. A digital polarimeter JASCO DIP-360 is used to measure the optical rotation using 10 cm tube. UV and infrared IR spectra were obtained on Hitachi U-3200 and JASCO A-320 spectrophotometer, repectively. 1 H NMR spectra were recorded in C5D5N using TMS as internal standard at

The bioassay directed phytochemical investigations of Tribulus longipetalus have resulted the isolation of eighteen compounds and their structures havebeen elucidated by extensive use of modern spectroscopic (UV, IR, EIMS, HREIMS, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, FAB +ve, FAB -ve) techniques. All the compounds have been isolated for the first time from this species.

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