Antioxidative constituents in the leaves of Paeonia anomala grown in Mongolia

Abstract

We successfully identified the main constituents responsible for the high antioxidant properties of the leaves of Paeonia anomala (Paeoniaceae) for the first time. P. anomala is an endemic plant widely found throughout Mongolia, and its air-dried leaves are main ingredients in some kinds of herbal teas. Infusions of P. anomala leaves are also used as home remedies for the treatment of liver and kidney ailments by the local population. Three major antioxidative constituents were isolated from the ethyl acetate layer of a P. anomala leaf ethanol extract via 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay-guided fractionation, consisting of liquid-liquid partition, two types of open column chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC. Chemical structures of the purified compounds were identified using LC-MS, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR as methyl gallate, pentagalloylglucose, and tellimoside. The identified compounds contributed to 35% of the total DPPH radical scavenging activity of the P. anomala leaf ethanol extract.