Three new steroidal constituents from Hosta longipes

Hosta longipes (FR. et SAV.) MATSUMURA (Liliaceae) is a perennial grass that is widely distributed throughout Korea. This plant has been used as a Korean traditional medicine for the treatment of ulcer, tuberculosis, melena and leukorrhea. In the previous phytochemical investigations, steroidal saponins were mainly isolated and some of them showed cytotoxic activity towards HeLa cells.

In the course of our continuing search for biologically active compounds from Korean medicinal sources, we investigated the MeOH extract of the aerial parts of H. longipes. The column chromatographic separation of the MeOH extract resulted in the isolation of three new steroidal compounds, longipenane (1), longipenane 26-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2) and neogitogenin 3-O-{O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-O-[β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)]-β-D-galactopyranoside} (3), along with two known steroidal saponins. The structures of the compounds were determined on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, including extensive 2D NMR data. The stereochemistry of the compounds was clarified by J values and a modified Mosher's method. The isolated compounds are in progress for the test of inhibitory effects against the nitric oxide (NO) production in

lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated BV-2 cells.