ABSTRACT
Objective: For the purpose of finding new bioactive agents from Chinese herbal medicine, the chemical study on Psoralea corylifolia was carried out. Methods: The chemical constituents in the fruits of P. corylifolia were isolated by silica gel, MCI-GEL resin, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods. The structures of compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques. Results: A new isoflavanone, 3R-6-hydroxy-8-(hydroxymethyl)-4',7-dimethoxy-dihydrogenisoflavone (1) was isolated from the fruit of P. corylifolia. Conclusion: Compound 1 is a new compound named corylisoflavone A, which displays the cytotoxicity against NB4, SH-SY5Y, PC3, A549, and MCF7 cells with IC50 values of 12.6, 5.3, 15.5, 4.8, and 11.2 μmol/L, respectively.