Constituents of corynaea crassa “peruvian viagra”

Abstract

A phytochemical investigation of methanol and n-hexane extracts of tuber/roots of Corynaea crassaHook. f., Balanophoraceae, led to the isolation and characterization of β-sitosterol, lupenone, β-amyrone,lupeol, and β-amyrine. Unusual complex 1:1 mixtures of lupenone/ β-amyrone and lupeol/ β-amyrineobtained from the extracts were identified by NMR and HR-MS experiments. The structure of the 1:1lupenone/ β-amyrone mixture was confirmed by X-ray analysis. These triterpene ketone derivatives,only distinguished either by 5- or 6-membered E ring, co-crystallize in one common unit cell in the solidstate.