Chemotaxonomy of Gonospermum and related genera

Aerial parts of Gonospermum fruticosum collected at several locations in the Canary Islands afforded, in addition to known compounds, four sesquiterpene alcohols related to costol and a sesquiterpene lactone, whose structures were established on the basis of their spectroscopic data and chemical transformations. Except for Gonospermum species collected on the island of Tenerife, those collected on the island of El Hierro and, in a previous study those from La Gomera, contain sesquiterpene lactones that can be used as chemotaxonomic markers confirming the inclusion of Gonospermum, Lugoa, and species of Tanacetum endemic to the Canary Islands in a genus that does not support the monophyly of Gonosperminae.This work was supported in part by grants from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spain and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (SAF2004-07928 and SAF2007-62536). This work was supported in part by grants from the Programa de Iniciativa Comunitaria INTERREG IIIB Azores-Madeira-Canarias (04/MAC/3.5/C5), from the Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (G-05-09 to J.B.). F.L. was supported by JAE-Postdoctoral Program from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. J.C.H. was supported by a grant from the Government of Canary Islands