Antibacterial and antiandrogen flavonoids from Sophora flavescens

Abstract

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.