STUDIES ON THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF FRITILLARIA IN HUBEI

The bulb of Fritillaria ebeiensis var. purpurea G.D. Yu et P. Li(Liliaceae) are commercially available as the substitute for the principal Chinese traditional medicine "Beimu". This plant is easily cultivated, has high alkaloid content and conspicuous antitussive and expectorant effects.Seven C-nor-D-homo steroidal alkaloids(Ⅰ～Ⅶ) were isolated from the bulb cultivated in Suizhou district, Hubei. Ⅰ～Ⅳ have been identified as the known alkaloids peimine, peiminine, ebeinine and ebeinone on the basis of spectral data and by TLC and mixed mp comparison with authentic samples. The alkaloid Ⅵ, C₂₇H₄₃NO₂, mp 186～188℃, named ziebeimine, is a new alkaloid isolated from the title plant. The structure of Ⅵ has been established as 5α,14α-cevanine-13,17-dehydro-3α,6β -diol on the basis of its IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR and mass spectra. The structure of alkaloids Ⅴ and Ⅶ is still under investigation.