Halimane Diterpenes in the Alpine Daisy Celmisia viscosa: Absolute Configuration, 2,6-Dideoxyhexopyran-3-ulosides, Conformational Flexibility, and Intraspecific Variation

The methyl-migrated bicyclic skeleton of the halimane diterpenes has been found in a wide range of organisms, including flowering plants, liverworts, marine animals, and bacteria. The discovery of halima-1(10),14-dien-13-ol (3) from the Aotearoa New Zealand endemic alpine daisy Celmisia viscosa is now reported. The full configuration was assigned for the first time by X-ray crystallography, enantiomeric to that of a liverwort isolate. The absolute configuration at C-5 of the halimane is opposite to that at C-5 of the labdane epimanool (1) found in some C. viscosa specimens. Two new 2,6-dideoxyhexopyran-3-uloside halimane derivatives (4 and 5) were also found, and the absolute configuration of 5 was determined by H-1 NMR analysis of the Mosher esters. Line broadening in the C-13 NMR spectra of these halim-1(10)-enes was due to conformational exchange in the decalin ring A, as shown by molecular modeling and DFT calculations. H-1 NMR and GC analyses of leaf extracts of individual plants from across the full geographic range of C. viscosa revealed intraspecific variation of diterpenes: 37 samples had halimadienol as the main diterpene in large amounts and 2 specimens had predominantly epimanool, again in large amounts. Three other viscid (sticky leaved) Celmisia species also contained diterpenes, but none was detectable in four nonviscid Celmisia species.