Phytochemical profile of Euphorbia peplus L. collected in Central Italy and NMR semi-quantitative analysis of the diterpenoid fraction

In this work, the phytochemical profile of the ethanolic extract of Euphorbia peplus L. collected in CentralItaly, was reported. This specimen had never been studied before and the analysis was accomplished bymeans of Column Chromatography for the separation procedure and by means of NMR Spectroscopy andMass Spectrometry for the identification step. In particular, fourteen compounds were evidenced belong-ing to five different classes of natural compounds i.e. triterpenoids (pentacyclic and saponin), peculiarditerpenoids (jatrophanes and pepluanes), flavonoids (flavonols), caffeoyl-quinic acids and rare disac-charides. In addition to this, a semi-quantitative analysis on the diterpenoid fraction, by means of NMRSpectroscopy, was also performed in order to provide the real quantities of these compounds in the samefraction and in the total extract. Due to the pronounced chemo variability observed in Euphorbia spp., theavailability of a reliable and quick analytical technique, such as that reported in the present study, couldbe a useful tool in the standardization of plant materials to be used in pharmacological studies or for eth-nomedicinal purposes. The technical details for both the general phytochemical analysis and the specificquantitative one, were inserted in this paper. Moreover, the chemotaxonomic and ethnopharmacologicalrelevance of these compounds was also discussed.