Nor-kurarinone Characteristic of Chinese Sophora flavescens

Abstract

The root of Sophora flavescens is used as a Chinese crude drug for treating various disorders. S. flavescens is grown in Japan, China and Korea. We previously used Principle Component Analysis (PCA) to demonstrate that 1 H NMR spectra of root extracts of S. flavescens can be used to identify the country of origin of the sample (Japan or China). In the present study we identified a compound characteristic of Chinese S. flavescens using NMR metabolomics. Loading plot analysis of the PCA results and an NMR metabolomics study identified NMR signals from a compound identified as nor-kurarinone and characteristic of Chinese S. flavescens grown in Hangzhou. This compound was confirmed by HPLC analysis to be a distinctive marker for Chinese S. flavescens.