A new gibberellin type sesquiterpene in wild chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemum indicum L. is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae and Chrysanthemum genera, also known as Malaria Grass, Coix Seed, and Roadside Yellow. Distributed in Northeast, North, Central, South, and Southwest China, as well as in India, Japan, North Korea, and Russia. Wild chrysanthemum whole plant is used as medicine, with a bitter taste, pungent and cool nature. It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, dispersing wind and heat, as well as dispersing blood stasis, improving vision, and lowering blood pressure. In addition, modern pharmacological research shows that wild chrysanthemum can be used to prevent and treat epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, prevent influenza, and treat hypertension, hepatitis, dysentery, carbuncle and furuncle. The infusion of wild chrysanthemum is also very effective in killing larvae and maggots. Wild chrysanthemum, as a typical traditional Chinese medicine, has a long history of medicinal use, dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties. It is known as “Jiehua” in the “Shennong Bencao Jing”. In ancient times, it was widely used to treat headaches, dizziness, swelling, eye pain, bruises, sprains, snake bites, centipede bites, rhinitis, diphtheria, cholera, malaria, etc. Modern research has shown that wild chrysanthemums contain chemical components such as flavonoids, polysaccharides, terpenes, and volatile oils, which have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antioxidant, and immune regulatory effects. They are commonly used to treat various inflammations, hypertension, and respiratory diseases. Wild chrysanthemum is commonly used in clinical practice for colds, respiratory infections, and has certain therapeutic effects on immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The traditional efficacy of wild chrysanthemum and the precise therapeutic effect of modern marketed products indicate that wild chrysanthemum has a good effect on inflammation related diseases. And in the literature reports on wild chrysanthemums, it was found that the extracts of wild chrysanthemums have good anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, in order to further study the chemical composition and anti-inflammatory pharmacological activity of wild chrysanthemum, this article extracted and isolated the chemical components of the dichloromethane part of wild chrysanthemum, laying a foundation for better understanding the chemical composition of this traditional Chinese medicine and discovering compounds with good anti-inflammatory activity.

During the research, the chemical constituents of collected wild chrysanthemums were studied by cold extraction with dichloromethane, and separation and purification methods such as MCI column chromatography, ODS column chromatography, Sepha dex LH-20 gel column chromatography, and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. A total of six gemmarane sesquiterpenes were isolated, including one new compound. Their structures were identified by analysis techniques such as ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy (UV and IR), mass spectrometry (ESI-MS and HR-ESI-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and electron circular dichroism (ECD). In addition, compounds 1-6 were screened for anti-inflammatory activity in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) – induced RAW 264.7 inflammatory cell model of mouse macrophages, and all showed anti-inflammatory effects. Among them, compound 2 had the best anti-inflammatory effect. This study revealed the chemical composition and anti-inflammatory activity of wild chrysanthemum, a plant in the Chrysanthemum genus. However, its specific pharmacological mechanism still needs to be further studied through systematic in vitro and in vivo experiments. The research results of this study can provide a certain experimental basis for the full development of wild chrysanthemum in the future and the clinical application ideas and directions of wild chrysanthemum medicinal materials.