Triterpene glycosides of alfalfa. III. Medicoside I

On the basis of chemical transformations and with the aid of physicochemical results, the structure of glycoside I isolated from the roots of the plantMedicago sativa has been established as hederagin 3-O-[O--L-arabinopyranosyl-(1 2)--D-glucopyranosyl-(1 2)--L-arabinopyranoside] 28-O--D-glucopyranoside. Compound (I), C₅₂H₈₄O₂₂, mp 210–212°C, []_D²¹+38.4° (c 1.48; methanol). Acid hydrolysis of (I) led to hederogenin (II) — C₃₀H₄₈O₄, mp 326–330°C, []_D²³+84.2° (c 0.19; pyridine. The Hakomorimethylation of glycoside (I) yielded the permethylate (IV) — C₆₅H₁₁O₂₂ []_D²³+41.6° (c 1.79; methanol). The GLC analysis of the products of the methanolysis of compound (IV) showed the presence of 3,4,6-tri-O-methyl-D-glucopyranose, 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-methyl-D-glucopyranose, 3,4-di-O-methyl-L-O-arabinopyranose, and 2,3,4-tri-o-methyl-L-arabinopyranose. The alkaline hydrolysis of glycoside I gave compound (III) with mp 230–233°C, []_D²¹+35.2° (c 0.21; methanol), which was identified as medicoside C. Details of the PMR spectrum are given for compound (IV) and of the IR spectrum for compound (I).Institute of the Chemistry of Plant Substances of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Tashkent. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 607–610, September–October, 1986.