Isolation and structure determination of four new neolignans from Trogopterorum faeces

Trogopterorum faeces is the dry stool of Trogopterus xanthipes, Pteropus pselaphon, or Pteromys volans. It is known to have characteristic properties of invigorating blood, removal of extravasated blood, hemostasis, relieving pain, and deintoxication, and has been used for treatment of abdominal pain, menstrual pain, hypermenorrhea, amenorrhea, and snakebite in traditional oriental medicine. It was reported that it consists of diterpenoids, flavonoids, and fatty acid esters. Our phytochemical study to investigate bioactive compounds from Trogopterorum faeces resulted in the isolation of four new neolignans (1–4), which were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of methanol extract of Trogopterorum faeces. To the best of our knowledge, lignan or neolignan was isolated from this traditional medicine for the first time. Detailed structure determination of 1-4 on the basis of spectroscopic methods such as ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, ¹H-¹H COSY, HMQC, and HMBC including absolute stereochemistry will be presented.