A New Cassane-type Diterpene and Other Constituents from Caesalpinia minax

摘要

Caesalpinia minax Hance (Fabaceae) is a medicinal plant growing in the tropical and subtropical regions of southeast Asia. Its seeds, known as "kushilian", have been long used in Chinese traditional medicine for the treatment of dysentery and sore diseases. Recent studies showed that the cassane-type diterpenes of genus Caesalpinia displayed significant biological activities such as antimalarial, antibacterial, antihelmintic, antiproliferative and antineoplasmic activities. As a part of our exploration on the medicinal plant, the CHCl3 extract of the seeds of this plant was studied. One new cassane-type diterpene, named la,7(3-diacetoxy-5α-hydroxy-12α-methoxycass-13(15)-en-16,12-olide-17β-carboxylate, along with ten known compounds (Figure 1) were isolated. In this paper, we report the isolation and structure elucidation of the new compound.