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Short Report
ScienceAsia 11 (1985): 047-050 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.1985.11.047
TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THAILAND VI. ISOLATION OF CRYPTOMERIDIOL FROM BLUMEA BALSAMIFERA1
NIJSIRI RUANGRUNGSI,a PAYOM TANTIVATANA,a PIMOLWAN TAPPAYUTHPIJARN,a ROBERT P. BORRIS,b,c AND GEOFFREY A. CORDELLb
ABSTRACT: The leaves of Blumea balsamifera (Compositae) have yielded the antispasmodic
principle cryptomeridiol (1).
Blumea balsamifera DC (Compositae) has been reported to have quite wide use in the Chinese and Thai systems of traditional medicine. Preparations of the plant have been used as a carminative, as a mild stimulant, as a vermifuge, as a preventive medicament. as an abortifacient and as a topical application for septic ulcers in the ancient Chinese medical literature2. In Thailand. the dried leaves are cut into small pieces and smoked as a cigarette to relieve sinusitis pain. An infusion of the leaves is used as a stomachic. carminative, diaphoretic. expectorant and emmenagogue. A decoction from the fresh leaves alone or in combination with other plants is used as a bath for women after giving birth.
The phytochemistry of Blumea has been of interest of many years. Following initial studies on the essential oil3, aliphatic hydrocarbons4, monoterpenes3-9, sesquiterpenes4,9, triterpenes and steroids2,5,10-12, a diester of coniferyl alcohol13, some polyacetylene and thiophene derivatives13-14, xanthoxylin2. eranthin and 5,3',4'-trihydroxy-3,6,7-trimethoxy flavone15-17, two dihydroquercetin derivatives18. a number of unidentified flavonoids2,15. and some coumarins2 have been obtained from Blumea species.
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a Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn
University, Bangkok 5, Thailand.
b Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, University
of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, 60612, U.S.A.
c Present address: Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, P.O. Box 2000,
Rahway, New Jersey, 07065, U.S.A.
Received 20 November 1984
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