A fast and efficient HPLC-PDA-MS method for detection and identification of pyranochromanone acids in Calophyllum species.

Pyranochromanone acids isolated from Calophyllum species have shown a variety of biological potentialities including antioxidant, antiulcer, anticancer and anti-Helicobacter pylori activities. These compounds seem to be the main constituents of Cuban Calophyllum species together xanthones and biflavonoids. Recently, the pyranochromanone acids calophyllic acid, isocalophyllic acid, apetalic acid, calolongic acid, isoapetalic acid, pinetoric acid I, pinetoric acid II, were isolated from Calophyllum pinetorum, a Cuban endemic species. The objective of the present work was the development of a rapid and efficient HPLC-DAD-MS method for fast screening of pyranochromanones in the leaves and resins of different endemic Calophyllum spp of Cuba, without clean-up procedures. For this purpose, a generalized fragmentation pathway was proposed and used to characterize, by HPLC-DAD-MS, the pyranochromanone acids in leaves and resins of different Calophyllum species. The developed method enables to detect also minor compounds in Calophyllum spp. The structures proposed by MS data for these compounds were unambiguous confirmed by 1D and 2D-NMR analysis and three new pyranochromanone acids, isocalolongic acid, pinetoric acid III and isopinetoric acid III, were reported here for the first time.