A new natural neo-clerodane from Teucrium polium L. collected in Northern Iran

Teucrium polium L. is a species with ancient ethno-botanical uses for its anti-inflammatory action which is mainly due to the phenolics content. On the other side, the presence of neo-clerodanes, which exert hepatotoxic action, may explain why in recent years the medicinal uses of this species have drastically diminished. In this paper we report on the isolation of a new natural neo-clerodane diterpenoid, namely 20-O-acetyl-teucrasiatin (2), together with other twelve relevant compounds in the fields of chemotaxonomy and ethnomedicine. Nevertheless, the total absence of iridoids and in particular of the chemotaxonomic markers of the family and of the genus itself, may reveal an intraspecific variability of T. polium with different chemotypes which may contain or not iridoids.