NMR studies of daidzein and puerarin: active anti-oxidants in traditional Chinese medicine.

Radix puerariae-a popular traditional Chinese medicine-is used for the treatment of diarrhea, acute dysentery, deafness, and cardiovascular diseases. It can also be used as an effective antioxidant and has been tested as an anticancer drug. Daidzein and puerarin are its main active compounds. The present contribution was focused on experimental and theoretical studies of the ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shifts and nuclear magnetic shielding parameters of daidzein and puerarin. Experimental data were gained by exploring standard one-dimensional spectra and a set of two-dimensional measurements: COSY, HSQC, and HMBC. The theoretical gauge independent atomic orbital density functional theory supporting studies, were performed to determine shielding constants and chemical shifts in vacuum and methanol-d4 solvent. The correlation between experimental and theoretical data was fairly good, especially when the DFT/PBE0 approach was used. The molecular properties of daidzein and puerine related to antiradical activity were studied in the context of a single-step hydrogen atom transfer mechanism and its correlation with ¹³C NMR chemical shifts. Graphical abstract Electron spin density distribution for daidzein radical.