Characteristic flavonoids from Acacia burkittii and A. acuminata heartwoods and their differential cytotoxicity to normal and leukemia cells.

Bioassay-guided fractionation of extracts from Acacia burkittii and A. acuminata heartwoods against an L1210 (mouse lymphoma) cell line led to the isolation of two flavan-3,4-diols, melacacidin (1) and isomelacacidin (2), and three flavonoids, 3,7,8,3',4'-pentahydroxyflavone (3), 7,8,3',4'-tetrahydroxyflavanone (4) and 3,7,8,3',4'-pentahydroxyflavanone (5). HPLC analyses (280 nm) of the 70% acetone extracts of the two plants showed different profiles in terms of the relative concentration of the five identified compounds.