Constituents of roots of Salvia deserta Schang (Xinjiang-Danshen)

Salvia deserta SCHANG. (Lamiaceae) is a plant grown in Xinjiang province in China, and its dried roots are called Xinjiang-Danshen. This plant has not been used as a medicine or a food, but recently it was reported that Xinjiang-Danshen is mixed in Danshen (roots of S. miltiorhiza BUNGE), a,veil-known Chinese crude drug, at Xinjiang province when latter was in short supply. We examined the constituents of the roots of S. deserta (Xinjiang-Danshen) and identified a new caffeic acid trimer [salvianolic acid K (1)], along with two known caffeic acid dimers [salviaflaside (2), rosmarinic acid (3)], a known caffeic acid tetramer [lithospermic acid B (4)], seven known abietane-type diterpenes [6,7-dehydroroyleanone (5), royleanone (6), taxodione (7), ferruginol (8), 7-O-methylhorminone (9), 7-O-acetylhorminone (10), horminone (11)], and a known steroid [daucosterol (12)]. Five of the diterpenes (5, 6, 9-11) were "royleanones" and the main caffeic acid derivative was the trimer 1. These differed from the constituents of roots of S. miltiorhiza, which contains "tanshinones" as diterpenes and magnesium lithospermate B as the main caffeic acid derivative. Thus, the mixing of Xinjiang-Danshen with Danshen is not appropriate and two should be considered different drugs.