A New Furanocoumarin Glycoside from the Roots of Ficus hirta

Background: Ficus hirta Vahl. is a medicinal plant, used in folk medicine in some countries such as Vietnam for the treatment of hepatitis, nephritis, mastitis, rheumatism, etc. Previous phytochemical investigation of F. hirta revealed the presence of phenolics such as phenylpropanoids, coumarins, furanocoumarins, flavonoids as the main constituents of this species. The aim of this study is to isolate and identify new chemical constituents from Ficus hirta growing in Vietnam. Methods: The crude MeOH extract was partitioned in turn between n-hexane, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts were chromatographed on silica gel, Sephadex LH- 20 columns to afford ten compounds. The structure elucidation of isolated compounds was unequivocally determined by spectroscopic means, HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and by in comparison with the published references. Results: A new furanocoumarin glycoside, 5-O-[β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranosyl]- bergaptol (1), along with nine known compounds, including six phenolics, bergapten (2), umbelliferone (3), 6-carboxy-umbelliferone (4), 6,7-furano-hydrocoumaric acid methyl ester (5), picraquassioside A (6), rutin (7); a nucleoside, adenosine (8); and two saccharides, ethyl-β-D-fructofuranoside (9), ethyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (10) were isolated and identified from the ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts of the roots of Ficus hirta. Conclusion: A new furanocoumarin glycoside, 5-O-[β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→2)- β-D-glucopyranosyl]- bergaptol along with nine known compounds were isolated from the roots of Ficus hirta growing in Vietnam. Keywords: Ficus hirta, furanocoumarin glycoside, 5-O-[β-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→2)- β-D-glucopyranosyl]bergaptol, moraceae, medicinal plant, phenolics.