The Crystal Structure of Hop‐17(21)‐en‐3β‐yl acetate of Pluchea pteropoda Hemsl. from Vietnam

The title compound isolated from the roots of a Vietnamese plant and being known for its activity against fever was identified by this X‐ray analysis to be a pentacyclic triterpene of hopanoide type with a C17=C21 endocyclic double bond in the five membered ring. The presence of several axially substituted methyl groups on both the α and β side causes the so called "mid‐molecule strain" having already been reported in the literature for other hopane type ring systems.