Chemical constituents with chemotaxonomic value from Asparagus lycopodineus (Baker) Wang et Tang

Asparagus lycopodineus (Baker) Wang et Tang (Asparagusate) is a perennial herbaceous plant that is used medically in China. In the current study, A. lycopodineus was phytochemically studied for the first time, which led to the isolation of fourteen compounds, including nine steroids (1-9), four lignans (10-13), and one flavone (14). Among them, five compounds (1, 3, 4, 13, and 14) have never been found in the Asparagus genus before. The chemotaxonomic significance of the isolated compounds was discussed based on the results combined with literature analysis. Some of the isolates, such as aspafilioside A (8), 3 '-hydroxy-4 '-methoxy-4-dehydroxynyasol (11), and (+)-syringaresinol (12), showed a narrow distribution in the Asparagus genus, which might serve as unique chemotaxonomic metabolites for the identification of A. lycopodineus. In addition, the results also highlight the close evolutionary relationship among A. lycopodineus, A. cochinchinensis and A. filicinus.