J Nat Prod. 2002 Nov; 65(11): 1667-9.

Polysulfide derivatives from Ferula foetida.

Duan H, Takaishi Y, Tori M, Takaoka S, Honda G, Ito M, Takeda Y, Kodzhimatov OK, Kodzhimatov K, Ashurmetov O.

The College of Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.

The ethyl acetate-soluble fraction from a methanol extract of Ferula foetida has afforded six new sulfide derivatives, (E)-3-methylsulfinyl-2-propenyl sec-butyl disulfide (foetisulfide A) (1), (Z)-3-methylsulfinyloxy-2-propenyl sec-butyl disulfide (foetisulfide B) (2), (E)-3-methylsulfinyloxy-2-propenyl sec-butyl disulfide (foetisulfide C) (3), bis(3-methylthio-2E-propenyl) disulfide (foetisulfide D) (4), 3,4,5-trimethyl-2-thiophenecarboxylic acid (foetithiophene A) (5), 3,4,5-trimethyl-2-(methylsulfinyloxymethyl)thiophene (foetithiophene B) (6), along with six known compounds. The structures of 1-6 were established on the basis of spectroscopic studies, with the elucidation of 5 confirmed by single-crystal X-ray crystallography.