Planta Med 2015; 81 - PM_126
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1565503

Constituents of the fruits of Vaccinium uliginosum (bog bilberry)

HM Kim 1, B Ryu 2, SY Choung 1, 2, DS Jang 1, 2
  • 1College of Pharmacy, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South)
  • 2Department of Life and Nanopharmaceutical Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South)

Vaccinium uliginosum L. (also known as bog bilberry) is a low-growing deciduous shrub classified in the Ericaceae family of plants, which includes numerous Vaccinium berries, blueberries, and cranberries. V. uliginosum have been reported to contain an abundance of flavonoids, anthocyanins, and flavonols. Flavonoids have been extensively studied in many kinds of berries (grape, cranberry, blackcurrant, etc.), and have been shown to have potential health promoting benefits including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.

As a part of our ongoing project to search novel secondary metabolites from medicinal plants, we chose the fruits of V. uliginosum for detailed phytochemical study. Repeated chromatography of freeze-dried extract of berries led to isolation of eleven compounds, comprising an anthocyanin, six flavonoids, two phenyl propanoids, and two iridoids. The isolates were identified as cyanidin-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), quercetin (2), hyperoside (quercetin-3-O-β-D-galactopyranoside) (3), quercetin-3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside (4), myricetin (5), myricetin-3-O-β-D-galactopyranoside (6), syringetin-3-O-β-D-galactopyranoside (7), methylchlorogenate (8), chlorogenic acid (9), loganic acid (10), and 6,7-dihydromonotropein methyl ester (splendoside) (11) by physical (mp, [α]D) and spectroscopic data (1H NMR, 13C NMR, 2D NMR, and MS) measurement and by comparison with published values. Although loganic acid (10) and 6,7-dihydromonotropein methyl ester (splendoside) (11) were isolated from other Vaccinium species, they have not been reported from V. uliginosum to date.