Pergamon PH: S0031-9422(96)00398-6 Phytochemistry, Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 1075-1077, 1996 Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All tights reserved 0031-9422/96 $15.00 + 0.00 TRITERPENOID SAPONINS FROM HERNIARIA FONTANESII ADDI NAIT M'BARK, DOMINIQUE GUILLAUME,*OSSARATH KOLt and ZOUBIDA CHARROUF:~ Laboratoire de Chimie des Plantes et de Synth~se Organique et Bioorganique, Facult~ des Sciences B.P., 1014 Rabat, Morocco; *Laboratoire de Chimie Th~rapeutique, URA 1310 du CNRS, Facult6 des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, 4 Av. de l'Observatoire, 75270, Pads Cedex 06, France tLaboratoire de Chimie Biologique et UMR no. 111, Universit~ des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France (Received 28 March 1996) Key Word Index--Herniaria fontanesii; Caryophyllaceae; triterpenoid, hemiaria saponins. Abstract--Two new saponins have been isolated from the aerial parts of Herniaria fontanesii. Their structures were established as 28-O-{a-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 --> 2)-[(ot-t-rhamnopyranosyl)-(1 ---> 3)]-(fl-D-4-acetox- yfucopyranosyl} ester of 3-O-[a-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 --> 2)-fl-D-glucopyranosyl uronic]-2fl-3fl-16-ct-trihydroxy- olean- 12-ene-23, 28-dioic acid and 28-O-{a-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 --> 2)-[(a-L-rhamnopyranosyl (1 --> 3)]-(fl-D- fucopyranosyl} ester of 3-O-[a-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(l--->2)-fl-D-glucopyranosyl uronic]-2fl-3fl-16-a-trihydroxy- olean-12-ene-23, 28-dioic acid. Copyright ©1996 Elsevier Science Ltd INTRODUCTION Stimulated by the use in the Moroccan folk medicine of the aerial parts of Herniaria fontanesii Gay for the treatment of lithiasis or as a diuretic, we started some years ago the phytochemical study of this Mediterra- nean endemic species. We have already isolated flavonoi derivatives [1] and two triterpenoid saponins [2, 3]. Recently, we isolated from the same plant, two other new triterpene glycosides (1 and 2) whose structures are described in this paper. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The dried aerial parts of H. fontanesii were consecu- tively extracted with dichloromethane and methanol. The methanolic extract, suspended in water, was ex- tracted successively by dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, then n-butanol. From this latter extract, dissolved in a minimum volume of methanol, the crude saponins were precipitated with diethyl ether. Multiple chromato- graphic steps afforded saponins 1 and 2 in pure form. Methanolysis of 1 yielded glucuronic acid (glcA), OH OH o.L ,,- o.. A o. H O ~ ''i OH coon .. ,,k ..... x... j - .o °/coos OH I:R=Ac 2 :R= H :~Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. 1075