Isolation and characterization of triterpenoids from the stem barks of Pinus massoniana

Abstract Tree barks, residues in forestry and the pulp industry, could be a rich source of novel biologically or pharmaceutically active substances. In the current work, chemical constituents of extracts obtained from stem barks of Pinus massoniana have been analyzed. A novelty is the isolation of a new ursane-type triterpene saponin, which was characterized as ursolic acid 3-O- β - d -glucopyranosyl (1′′→6′)- β - d -glucopyranoside-28-O- β - d -glucopyranoside ( IV ). Moreover, three already known triterpenoid compounds ursolic acid ( I ), oleanolic acid ( II ) and oleanolic acid 3-O- β - d -glucopyranoside ( III ) are described. The elucidation of chemical structures of the isolated extractives was carried out mainly by a combination of 1D 1 H, 13 C and various 2D NMR experiments as well as by IR, UV and MS spectroscopic techniques. It is the first report about four triterpenoids found in bark of P. massoniana .