EI/MS fragmentation of abieta-8,11,13-triene diterpenoid derivatives as a tool to identify swartziarboreols in Swartzia extracts.

A systematic molecular fragmentation pathway (SMFP) was designed as an identifier to detect swartziarboreols (abieta-8,11,13-triene diterpenoid derivatives) in Swartzia extracts. The SMFP was rationalised through the interpretation of the EI/MS of swartziarboreols isolated from S. arborescens and S. langasdorffii and by analogy with the fragmentations observed for previously isolated compounds. Two pairs of swartziarboreol epimers were identified by GC-MS in an extract of S. langsdorffii using SMFP. Acetylation and methylation of the dichloromethane extract furnished, respectively, 3 and 4, which suggested the occurrence of a new natural orthodiphenolic swartziarboreol.