6-Tuliposides A (6-PosA) and B (6-PosB) are major defensive secondary metabolites in tulip cultivars (Tulipa gesneriana), having an acyl group at the C-6 position of d-glucose. Although some wild tulip species produce 1,6-diacyl-glucose type of Pos (PosD and PosF), as well as 6-PosA/B, they have not yet been isolated from tulip cultivars. Here, aiming at verifying the presence of PosD and PosF in tulip cultivars, tissue extracts of 25 cultivars were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Although no HPLC peaks for PosD nor PosF were detected in most cultivars, we found two cultivars giving a minute HPLC peak for PosD and the other two cultivars giving that for PosF. PosD and PosF were then purified from petals of cultivar 'Orca' and from pistils of cultivar 'Murasakizuisho', respectively, and their identities were verified by spectroscopic analyses. This is the first report that substantiates the presence of 1,6-diacyl-glucose type of Pos in tulip cultivars.
Keywords: glucose ester; tulipalin; tuliposide; tuliposide-converting enzyme; α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone.