Identification of Phytoconstituents in Leea indica (Burm. F.) Merr. Leaves by high performance liquid chromatography micro time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

Leea indica (Vitaceae) is a Southeast Asian medicinal plant. In this study, an ethyl acetate fraction of L. indica leaves was studied for its phytoconstituents using high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-microTOF-Q-MS/MS) analysis. A total of 31 compounds of different classes, including benzoic acid derivatives, phenolics, flavonoids, catechins, dihydrochalcones, coumarins, megastigmanes, and oxylipins were identified using LC-MS/MS. Among them, six compounds including gallic acid, methyl gallate, (?)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate, myricetin-3-O-rhamnoside, quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside, and 40,60-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 20-O-?-D-glucopyranoside were isolated and identified by NMR analysis. The LC-MS/MS analysis led to the tentative identification of three novel dihydrochalcones namely 40,60-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 20-O-rutinoside, 40,60-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 20-O-glucosylpentoside and 40,60-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 20-O-(3”-O-galloyl)-?-D-glucopyranoside. The structural identification of novel dihydrochalcones was based on the basic skeleton of the isolated dihydrochalcone, 40,60-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 20-O-?-D-glucopyranoside and characteristic LC-MS/MS fragmentation patterns. This is the first comprehensive analysis for the identification of compounds from L. indica using LC-MS. A total 24 compounds including three new dihydrochalcones were identified for the first time from the genus Leea. © 2019 by the authors.