Nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds from the roots of Callerya speciosa

Abstract

Callerya speciosa (Champ.) Schot. [synonym: Millettia speciosa Champ.] belongs to the family Leguminosae, which grows in Southeast Asia, in the tropical and subtropical forests of Hainan Island, southern mainland China and in the north areas of Vietnam. C. speciosa have been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of fever, cough, headache, backache, rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, and nephritis. The presence of phenolics, phenolic glycosides, pterocarpans, flavonoids, isoflavonoids, sterols, and chromones in this species have been reported. In this study, the four nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds uridine (1), 2-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)-3-isoxazolin-5-one (2), adenosine (3), and hypaphorine (4) were isolated from the n-butanol extract of the roots of Callerya speciosa collected in Vietnam. The compounds were isolated and purified by silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and RP-18 column chromatography. As a result, their structures were characterized on the basis of extensive NMR, mass spectroscopic analyses, and comparison with reported values. This is the first report on the isolation of compounds 1–4 from Callerya speciosa.