Flavonoids and antioxidant activity of flowers of Mexican Crataegus spp.

Flavonoids and antioxidant activity of extracts of flowers from some Mexican accessions of Crataegus were studied using six accessions with the purpose of contributing to the knowledge of the nutraceutical properties of the accessions of the Germplasm Bank of the Universidad Autonoma Chapingo. Flavonoids were identified by HPLC-MS. Among the flavonoids, the quercetin 3-O-glucoside (3), quercetin 3-O-rhamnoside (4), quercetin 3-O-rhamnosyl-(1 → 6)-glucoside (2) and quercetin 3-O-rhamnosyl-(1 → 2)-[rhamnosyl-(1 → 6)]-glucoside (1) were assigned. Flavonoid content and radical scavenging activity explain some of the medicinal properties attributed to flowers of Mexican hawthorns.