Differences in the structure of anthocyanins from the two amphibious plants, Lobelia cardinalis and Nesaea crassicaulis

The foliar anthocyanin profiles of two amphibious plants, Nesaea crassicaulis and Lobelia cardinalis were analysed for the first time. N. crassicaulis produced very simple anthocyanins, achieving the highest concentrations when grown submerged. In contrast, L. cardinalis produced leaves with a high content of very complex, acylated anthocyanins, especially when growing emergent. Anthocyanins were separated by high performance liquid chromatography. Nesaea crassicaulis anthocyanins were identified according to their fragment mass spectra and ultra-visible-violet spectral characteristics and 1D and 2D NMR spectra as -3,5-di-O-β-glucosides of delphinidin, cyanidin, petunidin, malvidin and peonidin as well as cyanidine and peonidin-3-O-β-glucoside. In L. cardinalis cyanidin-3-O-[6-O-(4-O-E-p-coumaroyl-O-α-rhamnopyranosyl)-β-glucopyrano]-5-O-β-glucopyranoside was the major anthocyanin and contributed more than 98% of total anthocyanin content. The remaining 2% was made up by cyanidin-3-O-[6-O-(4-O-E-caffeoyl-O...