Planta Med 2011; 77 - PA26
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282222

Phytochemical analysis of Anthyllis hermanniae – Leguminosae, and development of a sensitive UHPLC-HRMS/MS method for the rapid analysis of the phenolic content

A Paschali 1, A Termentzi 1, M Halabalaki 1, A Skaltsounis 1
  • 1Laboratory of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry, Department of Pharmacy, University of Athens, Panepistimioupolis-Zografou, Athens, GR-15771, Greece

Anthyllis genus includes several species, very few of which are investigated from a phytochemical point of view. Previous works about the phytochemical analysis of the aerial parts of some species describe the isolation and structure elucidation of several glycosides of kaempferol, quercetin and other flavonoid aglycons [1–4].

In the present study, a detailed phytochemical analysis of the methanolic extract of the aerial parts of Anthyllis hermanniae L. is described, a species for which there are no previous data concerning its metabolic content. Applying several chromatographic techniques (VLC, LC, prep-TLC, HPLC, CPC), twenty-two secondary metabolites, belonging to categories of cinnamic and benzoic acid derivatives, sterols, coumarins, isoflavons and flavonols were isolated and their structures were fully elucidated by means of UV-Vis, MS, HR-MS and NMR (1&2D spectra). Moreover, triglycosides of quercetin and kaempferol, which are new natural products, were isolated and unambiguously elucidated [5].

After the structure elucidation of the isolated metabolites, the twenty-two compounds were used as references for the development of a fast and sensitive method for the simultaneous characterization of the phenolic content of A. hermanniae. The analyses were performed on a UHPLC system hypnenated with a hybrid-LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer using ESI & APCI ionization probes, in both positive and negative modes. The study of the full scan spectra together with the accurate MS/MS data enabled the identification of additional phenolics, with high confidence. This newly developed analytical method could be applied for the rapid identification of phenolics in other Anthyllis species, as well as in other Leguminosae plants.

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[2] Marco J et al. (1989) Phytochem 28: 1513–1516.

[3] Adell J et al. (1988) Phytochem 27: 2967–2970.

[4] Barbera O et al. (1986) Phytochem 25: 2361–2365.

[5] Halabalaki, M et al. (2011)J Nat Prod In press.