The genus Rabdosia is famous for the abundance of diverse and novel ent-kaurane diterpenoids. However, only a few ent-kauranoids have been discovered from R. flexicaulis since the investigation on its chemical constituents is not systematic. To find novel bioactive diterpenoids, the ethyl acetate extract of the above ground part of R. flexicaulis in Daofu County, Sichuan Province was obtained by column chromatography. One new compound and five known ones were identified as flexicaulin E(1), forrestin B(2), inf-lexarabdonin D(3), 7α-hydroxydehydroabietic acid(4), 15-hydroxydehydroabietic acid(5), and pomiferin F(6) by spectral techniques. Compounds 1-3 were the ent-kaurane diterpenoids isolated from this species for the first time. Compounds 4-6, aromatic abie-tanoids, were isolated from the genus Rabdosia for the first time.
Keywords: Rabdosia flexicaulis; abietane; diterpenoid; ent-kaurane.