Phytochemical and Chemotaxonomic Studies on Liriodendron chinense and Paramichelia baillonii (Magnoliaceae)

Phytochemical studies on two Magnoliaceae plants, Liriodendron chinense and Paramichelia baillonii, have led to the isolation and identification of five (1-5) and six (6-11) known natural compounds with alkaloid, lignan and sesquite rpene skeletons, along with β-sitosterol, daucosterol and sucrose from Liriod endron chinense (Hemsl.) Sarg., and β-sitosterol from Paramichelia baillon ii (Pierre) Hu, respectively. By spectroscopic methods including 2D NMR analys es and comparison of physical constants with literature data, their structures w ere identified as follows:epitulipinolide (1), atherospermidine (2), (+)-syring aresinol-di-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (liriodendrin, 3), (1S)-1,4-di-O-methylmyoino sitol (liriodendritol, 4), syringin (5), tetracosanoic acid (6), (-)-parthenolid e (7), (-)-dihydroparthenolide (8), (-)-N- acetylanonaine (9), cinnamic acid (10 ) and (+)-syringaresinol (11). From the chemotaxonomic point of view, L. chine nse (Hemsl.) Sarg. and L. tulipifera L. in the genus Liriodendron L. w ere closely originated, probably from one species. The chemical research results supported the establishment of subfam. Liriodendroideae (Park.) Law but not . L iriodendraceae. As there is no chemical variation found between Michelia L. and Paramichelia Hu, the chemical result doesn't support the establishment o f the genus Paramichelia Hu.