Abstract
Adenophora tetraphylla (=A. triphylla, Campanulaceae) is a source of the traditional Chinese medicine "Shashen". From the roots of this plant, three new phenolic glycosides, called shashenosides I, II and III (2-4) were isolated together with siringinoside (1), β-sitosteryl-β-D-glucoside, linoleic acid and methyl stearate. The common aglycone of 2, 3 and 4 was identified as 3-methoxy-5-(2'-propenyl)-1, 2-benzenediol [=1-O-methyl-5-(2'-propenyl)-pyrogallol=6-hydroxyeugenol, 6], and the structures of 2 and 3 were elucidated as 2, 3-di-O-β-glucopyranoside and 3-O-α-arabinopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-glucopyranoside of 6, respectively. Shashenoside III (4) was formulated as 2-O-β-glucopyranoside of 3. No saponin was found in the roots.