Phenolic compounds from the aerial parts of Clematis viticella L.

The genus Clematis L. (Ranunculaceae) comprises around 300 species worldwide. Some of its species are used for the treatment of inflammation-associated diseases, chronic skin diseases as well as treating wind-cold rheumatism in various traditional medicines [1]. Saponins, flavonoids and lignans were reported as the major chemical classes of the genus Clematis. Some triterpenoid saponins and phenolic glycosides from Clematis species were reported to possess cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities [1,2]. In the flora of Turkey, the genus Clematis is represented by five species. In Turkish traditional medicine some of these species are used as a remedy to relieve joint pains [3]. As a part of our ongoing phytochemical studies on Turkish medicinal plants, we have investigated the chemical composition of the aerial parts of C. viticella which has never been studied in terms of its chemical constituents. From the n-buOH subextract of the crude EtOH extract, isoorientin, isoorientin 3'-O-methyl ether, quercetin 3,7-di-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside and manghaslin were isolated while, chrysoeriol 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, quercetin 7-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside, hydroxytyrosol, caffeic acid as well as a mixture of (E)-p-coumaric acid and p-hydroxybenzoic acid were obtained from the EtOAc subextract. The structures were elucidated on the basis of NMR experiments and HR-MS spectra. All compounds are being reported for the first time from C. viticella while, isoorientin 3'-O-methyl ether, quercetin 3,7-di-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside, manghaslin and chrysoeriol 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside are new for the genus Clematis. The isolated flavonoids might have chemotaxonomic values for the genus Clematis within Ranunculaceae family and might be utilized for the chemotaxonomic evaluation of the genus.

[1] Chawla R, Kumar S, Sharma A. J Ethnopharm 2012; 143: 116 – 150.

[2] Zhao M, Ma N, Qiu F, Tia, X, Zhang Y, Tang H, Liu X. Fitoterapia 2014; 97: 234 – 240.

[3] Yesilada E, Kupeli E. J. Ethnopharm 2007; 110: 504 – 515.