Abstract: During our continuing research towards the discovery of bioactive natural products from rare and endangered plants endemic to China,the twigs and leaves of the ornamental plant Camellia crapnelliana have been initially,phytochemically investigated,which led to the isolation of seven miscellaneous compounds by repeated column chromatography (CC)over silica gel,MCI,Sephadex LH-20 and semi-preparative HPLC.By comparing their spectroscopic data and physicochemical properties with those reported in the literature,their structures were identified as (-)-pinoresinol (1),(±)-syringaresinol (2),(±)-lariciresinol (3),cytochalasin D (4),blumenol B (5),kaempferol-3-O-L-rahmnoside (6),and α-spinasterol (7),respectively.Among them,compounds 2-5 were reported from the genus Camellia for the first time.All the isolates were evaluated for their inhibitory effects against the protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B),but none of them were active.

Key words: Camellia, Camellia crapnellia, endangered plant, isolation and purification, chemical constituents