Triterpenoids from the Bark of Terminalia arjuna (Combretaceae)

The genus Terminalia numbers (Combretaceae) over 100 species, many of which are used in different traditional medicines for various purposes [1–3]. The bark of Terminalia arjuna is a reputed drug in Ayurveda and has a long history of medicinal uses in India such as a cardio-tonic for heart failure, ischaemic cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis and myocardium necrosis [3–7]. In our continuing effort to look for bio-marker compounds from botanical sources we isolated eight new compounds (1–8) including five novel 18,19-secooleanane type triterpenoids, namely, arjunasides A-E (1–5), two new oleanane type triterpenoids arjunglucosides IV and V (6,7), and one new ursane type triterpenoid 2α,3β-dihydroxyurs-12,18-dien-28-oic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (8), together with one known lupane type triterpenoid quadranoside I and nine known oleanane type triterpenoids, namely, arjunglucosides I-III, arjunetin, sericoside, bellericoside, arjunic acid, arjungenin, arjunolic acid, and crataegioside, four known ursane triterpene glycosyl esters, namely, 2α,3β,23-trihydroxyurs-12,18-dien-28-oic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester, quadranoside VIII, kajiichigoside F1 and 2α,3β,23-trihydroxyurs-12,19-dien-28-oic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester, as well as four other known compounds, namely, 3-O-methylellagic, 4′-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside, catechinacid, β-sitosterol and daucosterol isolated from the bark of T. arjuna.

Fig.1

Acknowledgements: This work is supported by the Food and Drug Administration grant entitled „Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements“ and „Botanical Dietary Supplement Research“ Numbers 5U01FD002071–09 and 1U01FD003871–01 and the United States Department of Agriculture Specific Cooperative Research Agreement Number 58–6408–2-0009. References: [1] Dwivedi S (2007)J Ethnopharmacol 114: 114–129. [2] Bhattacharya S, Kamat JP, et al. (2009) Food Chem 113: 975–979. [3] Chen PS, Li JH, et al. (2000) Cancer Lett 152: 115–122. [4] Pasquini R, Scassellati-Sforzolini G, et al. (2002)J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol 21: 33–44. [5] Dwivedi S, Gupta D. (2002) Ind Heart J 54: 441. [6] Bharani A, Ganguli A, et al. (2002) Ind Heart J 54: 170–175. [7] Dwivedi S, Jauhari R (1997) Ind Heart J 49: 507–510.