Determination of escin content in androgenic embryos and hairy root culture of Aesculus hippocastanum.

Escin, a group of chemically related triterpenic glycosides, is widely used in commercial preparations for the treatment of venous insufficiency. Since the zygotic embryo cotyledons accumulate the highest amount of escin, it is currently extracted from the seeds of horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum L. (Hippocastanaceae), on a large scale.

Hyperatomarin, an antibacterial prenylated phloroglucinol from Hypericumatomarium ssp. degenii.

As shown by quantitative (1)H NMR measurements, a lipophilic extract of the aerial parts of Hypericum atomarium ssp. degenii contained a high percentage (3.1% per weight of dried plant material) of a prenylated phloroglucinol (1).

Xanthones and secoiridoids from hairy root cultures of Centaurium erythraea and C. pulchellum.

Shoots of Centaurium erythraea and C. pulchellum were inoculated with suspension of Agrobacterium rhizogenes cells, strain A4M70GUS. Five clones of C.

Xanthones from Swertia punctata.

Isolation of 1-O-primeverosyl-3,8-dihydroxy-5-methoxyxanthone and 1-O-gentiobiosyl-3,7-dimethoxy-8-hydroxyxanthone, along with five known xanthones, isobellidifolin, methylbellidifolin, isoswertianin, methylswertianin and norswertianin-1-O-beta-D-glucoside, from the roots of Swertia punctata is reported. In the aerial parts four xanthones, bellidifolin, methylbellidifolin, swertianolin and mangiferin, and flavone-C-glucoside, isoorientin were identified. The chemotaxonomic and pharmacological significance of these results is discussed.