Some polyphenolic compounds isolated from the whole plant Balanophora fungosa

Abstract

Balanophora fungosa, commonly known as "Ngọc cẩu" or "Dó đất" in Vietnamese, is a parasitic plant belonging to the Balanophoraceae family. This plant was found in mountainous regions of the Northern and Central Highlands provinces in Vietnam. Traditionally, B. fungosa has been utilized in folk medicine, mainly for the enhancement of vitality, hemorrhage treatment, fever reduction, abdominal pain alleviation, and general body pain relief. There are few studies that reported the presence of bioactive compounds in this species, including triterpenoid and polyphenolic compounds, and their biological activities were antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and melanin synthesis inhibition. In this research, the chemical composition of the EtOAc extract of B. fungosa was investigated, leading to the isolation of 10 compounds comprising p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (1), p-hydroxybenzoic acid (2), vanillic acid (3), syringic acid (4), cinnamic acid (5), p-coumaric acid (6), caffeic acid (7), ferulic acid (8), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamaldehyde (9), and ω-hydroxypropioguaiacone (10). The structural compounds had been elucidated using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and comparison with previous references. This study contributes to the database of natural compound structures, particularly those constituents isolated from B. fungosa. All compounds, except for 5 - 7, are new ones found in the whole plant of B. fungosa now.