J Nat Prod. 1999 Dec; 62(12): 1595-9.

Antibacterial and antiandrogen flavonoids from Sophora flavescens.

Kuroyanagi M, Arakawa T, Hirayama Y, Hayashi T.

School of Bioresources, Hiroshima Prefectural University, Japan. kuroyang@bio.hiroshima-pu.ac.jp

Sixteen flavanones, three flavanonols, and four pterocarpans were isolated from the MeOH extract of the roots of Sophora flavescens. Twelve of these were new compounds, including eight prenylflavanones (1-8), one prenylflavanonol (9) and three novel pterocarpane derivatives (10-12). Their structures were elucidated using NMR and mass spectral methods. Some of these compounds have irregular C10 prenyl moieties at C-8 of the flavanone skeleton. These compounds exhibited significant antibacterial activities against the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, S. epidermidis, and Propionibacterium acnes. They also exhibited antiandrogen activities.