In the course of our investigation on the terpenoids of the liverworts which contain several oil bodies in each cell of the gametophytes, we found that the liverworts produce the sesquiterpenoids enantiomeric with those in higher plants. From the leafy liverwort Herberta adunca (Dicks.) S. Gray we now isolated five sesquiterpenoids consisting of a novel carbon skeleton named herbertane. The structure including absolute configuration of these compounds naming (-)-herbertene (1), (-)-α-herbertenol (2), (-)-β-herbertenol (3), (-)-α-formylherbertenol (4) and (-)-herbertenediol (5) were determined by the chemical and spectral evidence. The results provide a further illustration of the tendency of liverworts to produce the sesquiterpenoids which are enantiomers of those isolated from higher plants. The natural phenols (2, 3 and 4) and the bromide (19) inhibit the growth of some pathogenic fungi causing plant disease.
