CHEMICAL STUDIES ON THE CHINESE DRUG PI-LI(FICUS PUMILA L.)

The Chinese drug Pi-Li (Ficus pumila L.) has been used in this country for the treat- ment of diarrhoea and haemorrhoids. Recently, we have found that it contains active principles during our anti-cancer screening test. Therefore, the investigation of its chemi- cal composition has been performed. We have succeeded in isolating five components from the receptaculum or torus of this plant in crystalline form, which have been identified as meso-inositol; rutin; β-sito- sterol; taraxeryl acetate, and amyrin acetate respectively. Among these crystals, the latter two compounds existing in the acetate form were seldom occurred in triterpenoids, since the 3-hydroxy groups used to be present in free state. However, the above mentioned compounds were found to have no marked effect on the Hela cells.