The heartwood of the Swiss Stone Pine, Pinus cembra L., has been scarcely investigated for secondary metabolites for a long period of time. Considering age and relative simplicity of heartwood investigations dating back to the 1940s to 1960s, we conducted the first investigation of P. cembra heartwood by HPLC, using UHPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn and HPLC-DAD techniques in combination with isolation and NMR spectroscopy, with focus on stilbenes, bibenzyls and flavonoids. Analytical problems in the HPLC analysis of Pinus stilbenes and flavonoids on reversed stationary phases were also challenged, by comparing HPLC on pentafluorophenyl (PFP) and C18 stationary phases. Seven flavonoids (1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12), four stilbenes (4, 6, 10, 13), two bibenzyls (5, 9), three fatty acids (14, 16, 17) and one diterpenic acid (15) were detected in an ethanolic extract of Pinus cembra heartwood. HPLC comparison of reversed stationary phases in HPLC showed that the antifungal, antibacterial and chemosensitizing dihydropinosylvin monomethyl ether (9) and pinosylvin monomethyl ether (10) can be separated on PFP, but not on C18 material, when eluting with a screening gradient of 20-100% acetonitrile. Flavonoid separation showed additional benefits of combining analyses on different stationary phases, as flavonoids 7 and 8 could only be separated on one of two C18 stationary phases. Earlier phytochemical results for heartwood investigations were shown to be mostly correct, yet expandable. Substances 5 to 12 were found in alignment with these references, proving remarkable phytochemical analyses at the time. Evidence for the described presence of pinobanksin could not be found. Substances 1 to 4 and 13 have to our knowledge not yet been described for P. cembra.
Keywords: HPLC-DAD; NMR; Pinus cembra; UHPLC-MS; bibenzyls; flavonoids; heartwood; isolation; phytochemistry; stilbenes.