Chem. Pharm. Bull.

Chem. Pharm. Bull., 49(4),453-460, April 2001

Regular Articles

Sweet Pregnane Glycosides from Telosma procumbens

Vo Duy HUAN,^a Kazuhiro OHTANI,^a Ryoji KASAI,^a Kazuo YAMASAKI,^*,a and Nguyen Viet TUU ^b

Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Hiroshima University,^a 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan and Science-Production Union of Ginseng and Medicinal Plants,^b 41 Dinh Tien Hoang, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

An intensely sweet polyoxypregnane glycoside, telosmoside A₁₅ (15), was isolated from an Asian Asclepiadaceae plant, Telosma procumbens, collected in Vietnam. This is the first time a sweet pregnane glycoside has been found, and its sweetness intensity is 1000 times greater than that of sucrose. From the same plant, 17 other new glycosides were isolated, having the same aglycone; they are named telosmosides A₁-A₁₄ (1-14) and A₁₆-A₁₈ (16-18). Some of these glycosides are also sweet, but others are tasteless or bitter. Chemical structures of the 18 glycosides were determined, and the structure-taste relationship was discussed.

Key words Telosma procumbens; polyoxypregnane glycoside; sweetener; Asclepiadaceae; telosmoside

Regular Articles

Sweet Pregnane Glycosides from Telosma procumbens

Vo Duy HUAN,a Kazuhiro OHTANI,a Ryoji KASAI,a Kazuo YAMASAKI,*,a and Nguyen Viet TUU b

Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Hiroshima University,a 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan and Science-Production Union of Ginseng and Medicinal Plants,b 41 Dinh Tien Hoang, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Vo Duy HUAN,^a Kazuhiro OHTANI,^a Ryoji KASAI,^a Kazuo YAMASAKI,^*,a and Nguyen Viet TUU ^b

Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Hiroshima University,^a 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan and Science-Production Union of Ginseng and Medicinal Plants,^b 41 Dinh Tien Hoang, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.