Bioactivity-guided fraction of an extract of Sophora flavescens to identify antibacterial compounds against Acinetobacter baumannii, led to the isolation of two new compounds, (2″R)-5-methoxy-7-hydroxy-8-lavandulylchromone (13) and (2S,βS)-(-)-sophobiflavonoid CE (19), and 18 known flavonoids, (6aR,11aR)-(-)-maackiain (1), (2S)-(-)-8-prenylnaringenin (2), (2S)-(-)-exiguaflavanone K (3), (2S)-(-)-sophoraflavanone G (4), (2S)-(-)-leachianone A (5), (2S)-(-)-kushenol E (6), (2S)-(-)-leachianone G (7), (±)-kushenol F (8), (2S)-(-)-kurarinone (9), (2S)-(-)-kurarinol (10), (2 R,3R)- (+)-3,7,4'-trihydroxy-5-methoxy-8-prenylflavanone (11), (2S)-(-)-isoxanthohumol (12), (2S)-(-)-2'-methoxykurarinone (14), (2 R,3R)-(+)-kushenol I (15), calycosin (16), kuraridin (17), (2S)-(-)-kushenol A (18), and trifolirhizin (20). Their structures were elucidated based on NMR, MS, and CD spectroscopic analysis. Among them, 1, 2, 5, and 15 exerted modest antibacterial activity against A. baumannii, with MIC95 of 128-256 μg/mL for 2 and 256-512 μg/mL for 1, 5 and 15.
Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii; Sophora flavescens; bioactivity-guided isolation; flavonoids.