Megastigmanes and its glycosides are a currently expanding class of compounds. In our continuation of the studies on the sub-tropical plants collected on Okinawa Island, we have phytochemically investigated the leaves of Macaranga tanarius (L.) MÜLL.-ARG. (Euphorbiaceae). M. tanarius is well known as a pioneer tree and also an ant-plant. It is defended by ants against herbivores by producing the ant-attracting food body.1) This plant can be found throughout eastern and southern Asia, especially in southern China, Korea and Japan. In China, root and bark of this plant are used for hemoptysis and dysentery, respectively.2) In this paper, we describe the isolation and structure elucidation of four new megastigmane glucosides (2-5) together with five known compounds (1, 6-9), and then discuss about the structural feature on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicalscavenging activity of these compounds.
Results and DiscussionAir-dried leaves (12.1 kg) of M. tanarius were extracted with MeOH (15 lϫ3) by maceration, and then the combined methanolic extracts were evaporated under reduced pressure. The MeOH extract concentrated to 3 l was defatted with nhexane (3 l), and the remaining MeOH extract was concentrated to viscous gum. The residue was suspended in H 2 O (3 l) and partitioned with EtOAc (3 l) and n-BuOH (3 l) successively to give EtOAc-(801 g) and n-BuOH-(374 g) soluble fractions, respectively. Part of the n-BuOH-soluble fraction (181 g) was subjected to various kinds of column chromatography on a highly porous synthetic polymer (Diaion HP-20), silica gel, ODS, droplet counter-current chromatography (DCCC) and HPLC (ODS) to give the above-mentioned nine compounds (1-9) (Fig. 1).Compound 1 was obtained as an amorphous powder. Methanolysis of 1 with 0.1 M NaOMe gave 1a, (6S,9R)-roseoside.3) The presence of D-glucose was also confirmed by acid hydrolysis of 1a and derivatization with (S)-(Ϫ)-amethylbenzylamine.4) The 13 C-and 1 H-NMR spectra indicated the presence of a galloyl moiety (Tables 1, 2). From these results, compound 1 was identified as mallophenol B isolated from Mallotus furetianus.5) It is noteworthy that a 6Ј-O-galloyl moiety doesn't influence the chemical shift values of aglycone moiety and the cotton effect of CD spectrum by comparison of the physical data of 1 and 1a.Macarangioside A (2) was obtained as an amorphous powder and its elemental composition was determined to be C 26 Nishihara-cho, Nakagami-gun, Okinawa 903-0129, Japan: c Iriomote Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus; 870 Aza Uehara, Taketomi-cho, Yaeyama-gun, Okinawa 907-1541, Japan: d Division of Foods, National Institute of Health Sciences; Japan: and e