Abstract
Lejeuneaceae is the largest family of liverworts in the world. Through the analyses of the chemical composition of some species, it has been demonstrated that they may represent an important source of original and bioactive molecules. None of the 146 species that occur in New Caledonia has been studied yet. Here we describe the terpenoid content of twelve New Caledonian species, including two endemics. We describe here, for the first time, the presence of frullanolide in the Lejeuneaceae, occurring as a major compound in the extract from Colura leratii, and a rarely observed santalene derivative from Acrolejeunea securifolia subsp. caledonica. These analyses also highlight species that probably contain original structures, such as Schiffneriolejeunea tumida var. hasskarliana, Cheilolejeunea spp and Thysananthus retusus. The results obtained here also confirm several previous hypotheses about the chemosystematics of the Lejeuneaceae. For example, lepidozene can be considered as a chemosystematic marker of the Ptychantoideae subfamily, considering its abundance in many Ptychantoideae. On the other hand, some results are different from those described previously. For example, we detected no fusicoccane derivatives in any of the Lejeuneaceae species analyzed here, whereas they were previously described as a marker of the Ptychantoideae. This suggests that the available data toward the chemistry of the Lejeuneaceae are not sufficient to be confident with some of the previous chemosystematic conclusions.