Cytotoxic triterpenes from a Chinese medicine, Goreishi.

Bioactivity-guided fractionation of the methanol extract of Goreishi (the feces of Trogopterus xanthipes Milne-Edwards) afforded one new and three known cytotoxic triterpenes, namely, 3-O-cis-p-coumaroyltormentic acid, pomolic acid, 2 alpha-hydroxyursolic acid, and jacoumaric acid. In the course of this investigation, six additional compounds having no cytotoxic activity were isolated, namely, maslinic acid, 3-O-trans-p-coumaroylmaslinic acid, ursolic acid, tormentic acid, euscaphic acid, and a new triterpene, 3-O-trans-p-coumaroyltormentic acid. The structures of the new compounds were established on the basis of X-nucleus-proton correlation with fixed evolution time (XCORFE) and other spectroscopic evidence.