A new bioactive flavone glycoside from the seeds of Melilotus indica All.

Melilotus indica All. [Chopra, R.N., Nayar, S.L. and Chopra, I.C. (1956) Glossary Indian Med. Plants, 164 C.S.I.R. Publication New-Delhi; Kirtikar, K.R. and Basu, B.D. (1935) Indian Medicinal Plants, 2nd Ed., Vol. I, pp. 703-704 Lalit Mohan Basuan Co. Allahabad. The Wealth of India (1962) A Dictionary of Raw Materials and Industrial Products, Vol. VI, pp. 329-331 (C.S.I.R. Publication: New-Delhi)] belongs to family Leguminosae, which is commonly known as 'Banmethi' in Hindi. It is found in North India, extending into S. Persia, S. Europe and the Tropical zone of India. The seeds are used as an anthelmintic, an antipyretic, for curing heart diseases, bronchitis, leprosy, bowel complaints and infantile diarrhea. The plant has also been used as a discutient, emollient, and as a fomentation. It is also useful in a plaster for swelling. It is considered astringent and narcotic. Earlier workers have reported the presence of C-glycosides [Sayed, E.L., Ishak, M.S. and Mabry, T.J. (1997) Asian J. Chem., 9, 551], methylene-dioxypterocarpan (MIS6) [Saxena, V.K. and Nigam, S. (1997) Fitoterapia, 68, 343-345], pterocarpane (MIS2) [Saxena, V.K. and Nigam, S. (1996) J. Institution Chem. 68, 122-125] and prenylated pterocarpan [Saxena, V.K. and Nigam, S. (1997) Fitoterapia, 68, 403-407] from this plant. Here, we report the isolation of the new flavone glycoside 5,7,4'-trihydroxy-6,3'-dimethoxyflavone-7-O-alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl(1-->6)-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside (1) from the seeds of this plant.