Planta Med 2016; 82 - PC28
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1578730

Flavonoid C- And O-Glycosides From Aspalathus Linearis

O Fantoukh 1, 2, 3, Z Ali 1, A Parveen 1, 2, A Viljoen 4, IA Khan 1, 2, 3
  • 1National Center for Natural Products Research
  • 2Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of BioMolecular Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
  • 3Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 4Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa

Aspalathus linearis (N. L. BURM.) R. DAHLGR. is a leguminous shrub endemic to the western parts of the Cape region in South Africa. The leaves and stems are used for the production of rooibos tea which is a quaffable drink because it contains no caffeine and low levels of tannin and lately has attracted attention as a health drink [1]. Beside antioxidant properties, it also shows estrogenic activity and promising consequences as antiallergy, antispasmodic, and hypoglycemic activity [1, 2]. Phytochemical investigation of A. linearis (Rooibos tea) leaves resulted in the isolation and characterization of eleven flavonoid C- and O-glycosides. Structure elucidation was achieved by 1D, 2D NMR experiments and HRESIMS.

Fig. 1

Acknowledgements: This research is supported by “Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements” funded by the Food and Drug Administration grant number 1U01FD004246 – 05.

References: [1] Shimamura, N., Miyase, T., et al. (2006). Phytoestrogens from A. linearis. Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin Biol. Pharm. Bull., 1271 – 1274. [2] Kawano, A., Nakamura, H., et al. (2009). Hypoglycemic effect of aspalathin, a rooibos tea component from A. linearis, in type 2 diabetic model db/db mice. Phytomedicine, 437 – 443.