title: [Studies on chemical constituents of two plants from Costus].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the chemical constituents of Costus speciosus and C. tonkinensis (Zingiberaceae) distributed in Yunnan province.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chromatography and spectral analyses were used to isolate the constituents and elucidate their structure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six compounds were isolated from the rhizome of C. speciosus and elucidated as diosgenin(1), prosapogenin B of dioscin(2), diosgenone(3), cycloartanol(4), 25-en-cycloartenol(5) and octacosanoic acid(6). Four compounds were isolated from the rhizome of Costus tonkinensis and elucidated as tetracosanoic acid(7), succinic acid(8), beta-sitosterol(9) and daucosterin(10).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compounds of 3-6 were obtained from C. speciosus for the first time and compounds of 7-10 were obtained from C. tonkinensis for the first time too.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210038, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Chun-feng
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Qiu-wen
authors.initials: QW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Luo-shan
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Zheng-tao
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D029770:Costus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D027343:Rhizome / Q000737:chemistry; D013141:Spiro Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D013141:Spiro Compounds; D014315:Triterpenes; C469690:diosgenone; C068792:octacosanoic acid; C010210:lignoceric acid