Boschniakia rossica FEDTSCH. et FLEROV (Orobanchaceae) is a parasitic plant grown on the roots of Alnus maximowiczii CALLIER (Betulaceae). Although its dried herb has been traditionally used as a tonic medicine in China, Korea and Japan, the tonic principle has not been yet described. It also attracts Felidae animals, and two compounds, boschniakine and boschnialactone, were isolated from this plant as being responsible for this activity.1) Some iridoids and phenylpropanoids were isolated from B. rossica in the previous studies.

Terpenes Terpenes U 0200A Novel Iridoid from Boschniakia rossica. -Phytochemical investigation of B. rossica leads to the isolation of iridoid (I), hydroxymethylboschnialactone, along with two known steroids and a phenylpropanoid. Iridoid (I) is postulated to be an intermediate precursor of boschnialactone isolated from B. rossica. The stereochemistry of (I) is established by means of nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy. The presence of the two steroids in the title plant is reported for the first time. -(YIM, S.-H.; KIM, H. J.; LIU, Y. Z.; LEE*, I.-S.; Chem.