Alliaria petiolata, commonly known as garlic mustard, is a biennial ruderal herbaceous plant belonging
to the Brassicaceae family. It is distributed in Europe, North Africa and West Asia,
and has become invasive in North America. The plant is known to produce glucosinolates,
which are responsible for its garlic odour and are mainly present in the seeds, and
flavonoids have been cited as the plant's aerial parts main metabolites. Derivatives
of isovitexin and isoorientin, are cited as the main metabolites present in the aerial
parts of the plant. Described in the plant were Isovitexin-6’’-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside,
a sinapoyl derivative of 6’’-O- beta-D-glucopyranoside and Isoorientin-6’’-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside.
Some general texts, as well as internet sources, also indicate saponarin (Isovitexin-7-
O-beta-D-glucopyranoside) as the main flavonoid of Alliaria petiolata but no recent reference could be found. This goes back to a publication of Keegan
in 1911, where saponarin was described as the main flavonoid of Alliaria petiolata [4]. In our study, in ten samples collected in different locations in Belgium, saponarin
or its glucoside was found as the main metabolite, and it was accompanied in different
amounts, according to samples, by lutonarin, isoorientin, synapoyl- saponarin, hydroxyferuloyl-saponarin.
The flavonoids were purified and identified by HR-MS and NMR, and profiled by HPLC-DAD.
