Malkanguniol, One of the Polyalcohols from Celastrus Paniculatus

Twente Uhiversity of Technology, Enschede, The Netherlands and D.D. Nanavati"and Sukh Dev National Chemical Laboratory, Poona, India (Received in 1K 25 January 1973; accepted for publication 1 Wbruary 1973) In connection with pharmacological properties ascribed to the seeds of Celastrus paniculatus Willd. (Hindi: Malkanguni), a plant mentioned in old Indian medical literature, the composition of the components of these seeds has been studied. In 1938, Gunde and Hilditch 1) investigated the fat of the aril-free seeds of Celastrus paniculatus and, by extraction with 80% MeOH aq., segregated it into glYceride and non glyceride fractions. From the latter fraction, these authors isolated, after saponification and acetylation of the neutral part, a resinous product which on the basis of element analysis , was considered to be the tetra-acetate of a tetrahydroxylic alcohol with an approximate composition ClSH2SOS. The nature of this compound(s), however, could not be defined.