Planta Med 2014; 80 - PP36
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1382731

Chemical profiles of American prickly ash, botanical dietary supplements from the Zanthoxylum genera

AD Pawlus 1, DM Freund 1, C Gentile 1, D Munter 1, E Starr 1, S Kegley 1, J Suresh 1, DL Wyse 2, AD Hegeman 1
  • 1Department of Horticultural Science and the Microbial and Plant Genomics Institute, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108
  • 2Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota St. Paul MN 55108

Zanthoxylum clava-herculis L. and Zanthoxylum americanum Mill. (Rutaceae) are Native American medicinal plants that are currently popular as botanical dietary supplements. Despite this use, little information on the chemical profiles of these two species or the commercially available products exists. To promote the safe and effective use of botanical dietary supplements, we undertook the chemical characterization of these two species using UPLC-DAD-MS/MS obtained from a high resolution and accurate mass hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. This method is efficient for obtaining structurally rich chemical information. The major constituents of both species were isolated and their structures confirmed using NMR, including the use of variable temperature NMR for herclavin (1). Herein we report, for the first time, the presence of an alkyamide from Northern prickly ash, supporting its traditional use for toothaches.

Fig. 1