ISOLATION' OF ETHYL GALACTOSIDE FROMTRIGONELLA CORNICULATASEEDS

Abstract

The seeds o f Trigonella corniculata L. have been found to contain a colour-, less substance m. p. 140-142° which has been identified as ethyl a-D-galactop yranoside.Trigonella corniculata L. (Papilionaceae) is locally known as Kasturi Methi and is used as a vegetable. Its fruits are bitter, astringent, styptic in taste and are applied to swellings and bruises [I].A review of the literature showed that the leaves of this plant have been studied earlier and found to contain coumarins, aesculetin and scopoletin [2], while the seeds are reported to contain triacontane, 22,23-dihydrostigmasterol, choline and betaine [3].Recently these seeds have been re-investigated and a .mixture of saponins of diosgenin and yuccagenin [4] and two new C-glycosides (6,s-di-C-fi-D-glucopyranosyl acacetin and its mono-acetate) [. ?I have been isolated.The seeds of Trigonella corniculata were grown in the Institute campus. The powdered seeds were defatted with light petroleum ether and then exhausted with ethanol. The concentration of the ethanol extract left a brown synlpy mass, which was extracted successively with petroleum ether, ether, chloroform, carbon tetra-chloride and acetone.The acetone extract (obtained by extraction of the concentrated ethanol extract) was concentrated to give a dark brown product which on TLC and paper chromatography showed the presence of three spots. The extract was then chromatographed on a column of silica gel using ethyl acetate : petroleum ether (40-60") and ethyl acetate as solvents (cf. Table I). This gave four different compounds A, B, C und D which were further purified by repeated chromatography and recrystallisations to give TLC pure products. Study of Compound B:Compound B obtained from fractions 19-37 on crystallisation from acetone gave colourless needles m. p. 140-142°. It gave a coDownloaded by: University of British Columbia. Copyrighted material.

Metabolomic approach for a rapid identification of natural products with cytotoxic activity against human colorectal cancer cells

“…Trigonella esculenta has been already investigated for its ethyl-galactoside 44 and diosgenin contents 45 , yet no previous studies evaluated the anti-proliferative activity of this species. The majority of literature data refers to Trigonella foenum-graecum L .…”