Psorospermum androsaemifolium BAKER, an endemic plant from Madagascar, locally known as "Tsifady", "Harongampanihy", "Fanerana" or "Hazomafaika" belongs to the Clusiaceae family.1) In the traditional medicine it is used as remedy for spiders or scorpions bite and also healing stomach disease.2,3) The widespread use of P. androsaemifolium in indigenous medicine for different ailments, justified further attempts to isolate and identify active compounds. The present paper deals with the isolation and structural elucidation of one new flavone glycoside and one new dihydrochalcone glycoside including their antimicrobial activities. To the best of our knowledge, no previous phytochemical study has been reported on P. androsaemifolium.
Results and DiscussionThe leaves of P. androsaemifolium were extracted at room temperature with methanol for 2 d. This extract was concentrated to dryness under vacuum, and after flash chromatography on silica gel using a hexane/ethyl acetate gradient of increasing polarity; fractions A-C were obtained. Repeated column chromatography and preparative TLC afforded quercetin (1), acanthophorin B (1a), vismiaquinone, aand b-amyrine, 12-hentriacontanol, hentriacontane and two new flavonoid glycosides: 3Ј-(2Љ,4Љ-dihydroxybenzyloxy)-acanthophorin B (1b) and b,2,3Ј,4,4Ј,6-hexahydroxy-a-(a-L-rhamnopyranosyl)dihydrochalcone (2). The 1 H-and 13 C-NMR, and MS data of the known compounds were consistent with those reported in the literature.Compounds 1 and 1a were isolated as yellow powder in silica gel column (3ϫ40 cm) from fraction A eluted with solvent system dichloromethane/methanol of increasing polarity. The EI mass spectrum of compound 1a exhibited a molecular ion at m/z 448 corresponding to a molecular formula C 21 H 20 O 11 . Two new flavonoid glycosides, namely 3-(2؆,4؆-dihydroxybenzyloxy)acanthophorin B (1b) and b b,2,3,4,4,6-hexahydroxy-a a-(a a-L-rhamnopyranosyl)dihydrochalcone (2) were isolated from the leaves of Psorospermum androsaemifolium together with quercetin (1), acanthophorin B (1a), a a-(3) and b b-amyrine (3a), vismiaquinone (4), 12-hentriacontanol and hentriacontane. The structures of these secondary metabolites were established using detailed spectroscopic analysis and by comparison with published data. Compounds 1, 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 3a and 4 showed weak antifungal and antibacterial activities.