Chemical investigation on 90% ethanol extracts of the aerial parts of Glycyrrhiza inflata afforded two new phenolic constituents, 2-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)-3,5,4'-trihydroxy-bibenzyl (1) and (2S)-6-[(E)-3-hydroxymethyl-2-butenyl]-3',4',5,7-tetrahydroxy-dihydroflavanone (2) along with seven known dihydroflavanones (3-9). Compounds 1-9 were tested for their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of inhibiting Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Compound 1 showed moderate antibacterial activities against both S. aureus (MIC of 50.00 μg/ml) and S. epidermidis (MIC of 12.50 μg/ml). The analysis of structure-activity relationships revealed that the antibacterial activity of dihydroflavanones (2-9) was significantly affected by the position of prenyl group.
Keywords: Glycyrrhiza inflata; antibacterial activity; phenolic constituents.