Phytochemical study on chloroform extract of Nepeta haussknechtii Bornm.

Nepeta is one of the most important genus from the fam. lamiaceae with more than 280 species. In this study, N. haussknechtii Bornm. was collected at the flowering stage from Ardabil province, Iran and its chloroform extract was prepared. The chloroform crude extract was subjected to the successive column chromatography on the silica gel using n-hexane–ethyl acetate solvent gradient to yield 29 fractions. Further purification of the fraction No.5 resulted in the isolation of one known steroid namely β-sitosterol (1). In addition, the known triterpenoid oleanolic acid (2) was identified from the purification of the more polar fraction No.9. The compounds were assigned by the mass spectrometry, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, DEPT, and 1H1H COSY. Finally, the structures of compounds were confirmed by comparison of the spectral data with those described in the literature.