Planta Med 2015; 81 - PC6
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1545193

New flavonoids from Retama raetam

AJ Alharbi 1, WH Xu 1, M Yousaf 1, MS Ahmad 1, SI Khan 2, 3, IA Khan 1, 2, 3
  • 1Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
  • 2National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, Mississippi, MS 38677, USA
  • 3Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, Mississippi, MS 38677, USA

Retama raetam (family Fabaceae) is an indigenous plant that is common to the North and East Mediterranean regions and the Sinai Peninsula [1]. In folk medicine, it is often recommended by traditional herb practitioners for the management of diabetes [2] and for the treatment of hypertension [3]. In Saudi folk medicine, fruits are particularly used as remedies of diabetes [2]. Experimental studies indicated that RR possesses, lipid and body weight-lowering, diuretic, antihypertensive, antioxidant, antibacterial, and hypoglycemic activities. A phytochemical investigation of Retama raetam led to the isolation of two new furanoflavonoids (1 – 2), along with five known flavonoids. Their structures were elucidated by different spectroscopic methods including 1D and 2D NMR as well as HR-ESI-MS analysis. The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of all the isolated compounds were assessed.

Fig. 1

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