Liverworts have oil bodies in their cells which contain a large variety of terpenes. Twelve new diterpenoids, including jamesoniellide D-G, and three new labdane-type diterpenoids have been isolated from the in vitro cultures of the liverwort Jamesoniella autumnalis (DC) Steph. (Jungermanniaceae). J. autumnalis was collected in December 1988 near Orscholz Saar (Germany). An axenic culture of J. autumnalis was induced from the surface-sterilized gametophyte of field material. The cultures were grown in flasks with modified B5 (pH 6.0) medium, containing 20gl^<-1> sucrose. The flasks were kept under constant illumination (2000 lux) at 22℃. A combination of column chromatography on silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 of an Et2O extract of J. autumnalis has resulted in the isolation of twelve new diterpenoids 4 to 15 together with five known compounds. The structures were established by spectroscopic methods. The terpenoids in the in vitro cultures are almost identical to those in the field collected materials.
