Dammarane saponins of leaves and seeds of Panax notoginseng

From the leaves of Panax notoginseng, cultivated in Yunnan, China, four known saponins of (20S)-protopanaxadiol; gypenoside-IX, ginsenosides-Rb1, -Rb3 and -Rc and three new saponins, named notoginsenosides-Fa, -Fc and -Fe were isolated. The common aglycone of these new saponins was proved to be (20S)-protopanaxadiol and the structures of the sugar moieties were elucidated to be 3-O-β-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-glucopyranoside-(1 → 20-O-β-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-glucopyranoside for Fa, 3-O-β-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-glucopyranoside-20-β-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-glucopyranoside for Fc and 3-O-β-glucopyranoside-20-O-α-arabinofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-glucopyranoside for Fe. From seeds of this plant, ginsenosides-Rb1, -Rb3, -Rc and -Rd, gypenoside-IX, notoginsenosides-Fa and -Fc were isolated and identified. From the chemotaxonomical and pharmaceutical points of view, it is significant that the sapogenin of all of these known and new saponins of the aerial parts of this plant is (20S)-protopanaxadiol. This contrasts with the aerial parts of other Panax spp. which contain larger amounts of (20S)-protopanaxatriol saponins than (20S)-protopanaxadiol saponins.