Flavonoids from the seeds of Psoralea corylifolia inhibit diacylglycerol acyltransferase

Abstract Three new flavonoids, including a new prenylated aurone, 7,2′,5′-trihydroxy-8-prenylaurone (1), and two new flavanones, 2(S)-4′-hydroxy-6-methoxy-7-(2”-hydroxy-3”-methybult-3”-enyl)flavanone (2) and 2(S)-4′-hydroxy-7-methoxy-6-(1”,2”-epoxy-3”-hydroxy-dimethyl)flavanone (3), together with eight known flavonoids were isolated from the seeds of Psoralea corylifolia L. The structures were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis and comparison with reported data. Among them, compounds 1 − 3, 10 and 11 exhibited inhibitory effects on the enzyme activity of DGAT1 in an in vitro assay with IC50 values ranging from 52.2 ± 1.2–89.2 ± 1.4 μM.