Sesquiterpene lactones from Elephantopus scaber

Abstract

The ethanolic and acetone extracts of the whole plant of Elephantopus scaber were found to contain ethyl hexadecanoate, ethyl-9,12-octadecadienoate, ethyl-(Z)-9-octadecenoate, ethyl octadecanoate, lupeol, stigmasterol, stigmasterol glucoside, deoxyelephantopin (1) and two new germacranolide sesquiterpene lactones named 17,19-dihydrodeoxyelephantopin (2) and iso-17,19dihydrodeoxyelephantopin (3) whose stereostructures were determined by spectroscopic methods, comparison with reported data and single-crystal X-ray analysis.