Planta Med 2011; 77 - PG84
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282568

Unusual flavones in Cytisus Desf.

OR Pereira 1, MR Domingues 2, AM Silva 2, SM Cardoso 3
  • 1CERNAS – Escola Superior Agrária, Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Bencanta, 3040–316 Coimbra, Portugal; Departamento de Tecnologias de Diagnóstico e Terapêutica, Escola Superior de Saúde, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Av. D. Afonso V, 5300–121 Bragança, Portugal
  • 2Departamento de Química & QOPNA, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810–193 Aveiro, Portugal
  • 3CERNAS – Escola Superior Agrária, Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Bencanta, 3040–316 Coimbra, Portugal; CIMO – Escola Superior Agrária, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia –5301–854, Bragança, Portugal

Cytisus Desf. (Fabaceae) is a diversified genus enclosing approximately sixty species, which are particularly found around the Mediterranean Sea. Many plants of this genus exhibit bioactive properties such as diuretic, hypnotic, anxiolytic, antiparasitic, antidiabetic and antioxidant [1] and, in particular the latter, has been closely associated to the high content in flavonoids [2].

The present work aims to contribute to the knowledge of Cytisus chemical composition, through the identification of new flavonoids in that genus. The compounds in focus were detected in ethanolic extracts of Cytisus multiflorus (Aiton) Sweet flowers by means of HPLC-DAD, ESI-MS and MSn analyses. These included the two isomers 2''-O-pentosyl-6-C-hexosyl-luteolin and 2''-O-pentosyl-8-C-hexosyl-luteolin (MW 580 Da), the two isomers 2''-O-pentosyl-6-C-hexosyl-apigenin and 2''-O-pentosyl-8-C-hexosyl-apigenin (MW 564 Da), the 6''-O-(3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaroyl)-2''-O-pentosyl-C-hexosyl-luteolin (MW 724 Da) and the 6''-O-(3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaroyl)-2''-O-pentosyl-C-hexosyl-apigenin (MW 708 Da). Attending that half of these compounds were herein described for first time in Fabaceae, overall, the present work is a valuable contribution for the phenolic elucidation of Cytisus genus as well as of Fabaceae family.

Figure 1: Structures for flavones identified in Cytisus multiflorus

Acknowledgement: Pereira OR thanks for the PROTEC grant SFRH/PROTEC/49600/2009

References: 1. Gião MS et al. (2007)J Sci Food Agr 87: 2638–2647

2. Luis A et al. (2009)J Med Plants Res 3: 886–893