Widespread occurrence of syn-alkane-6,8-diols in the flowers of the compositae

Abstract Ten tabular- and eight ligulate-flowers and seven flower-heads from twenty-two species of Compositae were investigated for their alkanediol constituents. All of the flowers contained alkanediols in small amounts suggesting their widespread occurrence in these flowers. Twelve alkanediols were identified as syn ( R , S and/or S , R )-C 21 −, C 23 −, C 25 −, and C 27 − —C 35 −alkane-6,8-diols among which syn -hentriacontane-6,8-diol occurred abundantly in many of the flowers.