Main phenolic compound of petals of Echium Amoenum fisch. and C. A. mey., a famous medicinal plant of Iran

Echium amoenum Fisch. and C.A. Mey. [Boraginaceae] is an indigenous Iranian plant, that its dry violet-blue petals [Gol-e-Gavzaban] have long been used in traditional medicine of Iran. In this study concentrated metanolic extract of the grounded dried petals of E. amoenum was fractionated by column chromatography and the fractions were purified by preparative HPLC. The structure of main pure component which was characterized by UV, IR, one and two dimensional 1H and 13C-NMR and Mass spectroscopy was found to be rosmarinic acid which is widespread in the plants of the Lamiaceae and Boraginaceae families in insignificant quantities and has antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory effects