Chemical constituents from the fruits of Illicium henryi Diels and their chemotaxonomic significance

A phytochemical investigation of Illicium henryi fruits resulted in the identification of 31 compounds, including fourteen sesquiterpenoids (1–14), two flavonoids (15–16), seven lignans (17–23), one shikimic acid derivative (24), one phenylpropanoid derivative (25), two phenolic compounds (26 and 27), three monoterpenoids (28–30), and one C13 norsesquiterpenoid (31). The structures of these compounds were elucidated through ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopic analyses and comparison with previously documented data. Twenty compounds (2–4, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17–19, 21, and 23–31) were isolated from I. henryi for the first time, and among them, eleven compounds (15, 17–19, 23, 25–28, 30, and 31) had never been previously isolated from any Illicium species. Additionally, this article discusses the chemotaxonomic significance of these compounds.