Nardostachys chinensis or “Gansong” – a medicinal plant in the family Valerianaceae – is used as a sedative and a painkiller in Oriental medicine. Jun Zhou, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, and colleagues have isolated a new type of sesquieterpenoid–chalcone hybrid, containing a 2,3-dihydrofuran ring fused to an aristolane-type sesquiterpenoid and a chalcone, nardokanshone A (pictured).

Infra-red and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy reveals the absolute structure of the molecule, while density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest a possible biosynthetic pathway based on the characteristics of this compound and a possible precursor, also isolated, from the plant kanshone C.

• Nardokanshone A, a new type of sesquieterpenoid–chalcone hybrid from Nardostachys chinensis,
  Peng-Cheng Wang, Xin-Hui Ran, Huai-Rong Luo, Yi-Min Zheng, Yu-Qing Liu, Jiang-Miao Hu, Jun Zhou,
  Tetrahedron Lett. 2013, 54, 4365–4368.
  DOI: 10.1016/j.tetlet.2013.05.127