ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the sources of the jatrophane macrocyclic diterpenes. The isolation of phorbol and its related esterified diterpenes from plants of the family Euphorbiaceae seemed to explain the diverse toxicological and medical uses of these plants. The first macrocyclic diterpene to be isolated from a Euphorbia species was "euphorbiasteroid", isolated by Dubylanska in 1937, but it was not until that the chemical structure of this novel lathyrane diterpene was elucidated. Jatrophane macrocyclic diterpenes are characterized by the absence of a cyclopropane ring. These compounds have been isolated from species of the family Euphorbiaceae and are potent antileukemic agents in vivo. The jatropholane and crotofolane diterpenes are related compounds which have been isolated from Jatropha and Croton species. A diterpene of the rhamnofolane type was reported to have been isolated from Croton rhamnifolius. This compound was of particular interest because of its close structural relationship to phorbol.
