New steroidal alkaloids from the bulbs of Fritillaria puqiensis.

Six new steroidal alkaloids, namely puqienines C-E (1-3), puqiedine (4), 3alpha-puqiedin-7-ol (5), and puqietinedione (6), along with two known steroidal alkaloids puqiedinone (7) and peimisine (8), were isolated from the bulbs of Fritillaria puqiensis G.D. Yu et G.Y. Chen (Liliaceae). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis, including 1D and 2D NMR experiments. Among these alkaloids, 1-3 had a veratramine-type skeleton, 4, 5, 7 a cevanine-type skeleton, 6 a secosolanidine-type skeleton, and 8 a jervine-type skeleton. The existence of multiple types of steroidal skeletons, especially of relatively large amount of veratramine-type alkaloids in one species is rare in the genus Fritillaria, and the results might be of chemotaxonomic significance for this species.