Immunochemical and HPLC identification of isoflavonoids in the Apiaceae family

Abstract Ethanolic extracts of 23 species of the Apiaceae family were analyzed for their flavonoid and isoflavonoid content, using the following methods: high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS); semi-preparative HPLC with Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (HPLC-ELISA); and immunoaffinity extraction (IAE). Rutin and quercetin-3-glucoside were the most abundant flavonoid glycosides and the most abundant flavonoid aglycone was apigenin. The isoflavonoids daidzein, genistein, sissotrin and formononetin were also found. The estimated content of individual compounds ranged from 1 to over 800 mg/kg (dry weight) for flavonoids, and from 0.2 to over 60 mg/kg for isoflavonoids. The probable reason why isoflavonoids have rarely been reported in the Apiaceae previously is that they occur in far smaller quantities than in families usually associated with isoflavonoids, such as the Leguminosae, but the sensitive methods used made their detection possible.