Phenylpropanoid-substituted Procyanidins and Tentatively Identified Procyanidin Glycosides from Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.)

Sendker J, Petereit F, Lautenschläger M, Hellenbrand N, Hensel A

Abstract

The rational use of hawthorn leafs and flowers from Crataegus spp. for declining cardiac performance is mainly due to flavon-C-glycosides and oligomeric procyanidins (OPC). From OPC-enriched extracts from different batches, a dimeric phenylpropanoid-substituted procyanidin (cinchonain II b, 1) was isolated and characterized by MS, CD, and NMR. Also the presence of higher oligomeric cinchonains (degree of polymerization 3 to 8) in hawthorn extracts was shown by a specific ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography-ESI-qTOF-MS method. Interestingly, strong evidence for the occurrence of oligomeric procyanidin hexosides was found by ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography-ESI-qTOF-MS analysis which additionally revealed the presence of peaks indicative of dimeric procyanidin hexosides by their exact mass, which were clearly distinguishable from the cinchonain II type peaks.