Pterocarpans and 2-arylbenzofurans from Sophora flavescens aiton and their chemotaxonomic significance

Abstract Phytochemical investigation of the root of Sophora flavescens Ait. led to the isolation of previously uncharacterized pterocarpan derivative sophoracarpanol A (1), along with eight known compounds, including seven pterocarpans (1–7) and two 2-arylbenzofurans (8 and 9). Their chemical structures were established based on extensive spectroscopic analysis. Among them, compounds 3–5 are the characteristic class of secondary metabolites of S. flavescens. And this is the first report of the presence of compounds 2, 6, and 7 from the genus Sophora and compounds 8 and 9 were firstly isolated from S. flavescens. Furthermore, the chemotaxonomic significance of the isolates was discussed.