Polyprenols from the needles of Taxus chinensis var. mairei

Polyprenols with various pharmacological activities were first isolated from Taxus chinensis var. mairei, which is native to China, and were identified by a high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS), (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR), (13)C NMR and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The taxus polyprenols (TPs) had two maxima of polyprenol-17 and polyprenol-21 and different from polyprenols distributed in other plant species. A reversed-phase HPLC method with a simple gradient elution was established, and the proposed combined peak area method for the quantification of polyprenols was verified. The analysis indicated that TPs were present in the old needles at levels as high as 3% and that T. chinensis var. mairei could be an alternative botanical source for the extraction of polyprenols.