Comparison of the phenolic profile of six Lysimachia species

The genus Lysimachia comprises about 200 species, wild and cultivated, that are native to throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Lysimachia species have been used in folk medicine and have been the subject of numerous pharmacological studies. Previous phytochemical investigations of plants from this genus showed that the most typical chemical constituents are flavonoids and triterpenoid saponins [1]. However many of these works are incomplete.

The aim of our investigations was to develop a chemical screening method for analysis of six Lysimachia species. Lysimachia vulgaris L., L. nummularia L., and L. punctata L., L. christinae Hance, L. ciliata L. var. Firecracker, and L. clethroides Duby. Samples were analyzed by RP-LC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS method to identify or characterize their phenolic compounds.

The results demonstrate that there is significant variation in the phenolic composition of these six Lysimachia species. The qualitative LC-MS/MS analyses resulted in identification of more than 50 various and distinctive phenolic components.

In the extracts caffeic acid derivatives, chlorogenic acid, free flavonol aglycones, as kaempferol and quercetin, and various flavonoid glycosides were identified. In L. vulgaris, L. nummularia and L. punctata mainly flavonol-O-glycosides (quercetin-, kaempferol- and myricetin-O-mono-, di- and triglycosides) were detected. In L. christinae beside O-glycosides C-glycosides, as vitexin- and isoorientin-derivatives and various methylated flavonoids were characterized. The results also confirmed that L. ciliata and L. clethroides native in North-America and Asia, respectively, show higher similarity to L. vulgaris, L. nummularia and L. punctata (native in Europe) than to L. christinae (native in China).

References:

[1] Podolak I, Koczurkiewicz P, Galanty A, Michalik M. Cytotoxic triterpene saponins from the underground parts of six Lysimachia L. species. Biochem Syst Ecol 2013; 47: 116 – 120