Identification of Phytoconstituents in <i>Leea indica</i> (Burm. F.) Merr. Leaves by High Performance Liquid Chromatography Micro Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Leea indica (Vitaceae) is a Southeast Asian medicinal plant. In this study, an ethyl acetate fraction of L. indica leaves was studied for its phytoconstituents using high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-microTOF-Q-MS/MS) analysis. A total of 31 compounds of different classes, including benzoic acid derivatives, phenolics, flavonoids, catechins, dihydrochalcones, coumarins, megastigmanes, and oxylipins were identified using LC-MS/MS. Among them, six compounds including gallic acid, methyl gallate, (&#8722;)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate, myricetin-3-O-rhamnoside, quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside, and 4&#8242;,6&#8242;-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 2&#8242;-O-&#946;-d-glucopyranoside were isolated and identified by NMR analysis. The LC-MS/MS analysis led to the tentative identification of three novel dihydrochalcones namely 4&#8242;,6&#8242;-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 2&#8242;-O-rutinoside, 4&#8242;,6&#8242;-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 2&#8242;-O-glucosylpentoside and 4&#8242;,6&#8242;-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 2&#8242;-O-(3&#8243;-O-galloyl)-&#946;-d-glucopyranoside. The structural identification of novel dihydrochalcones was based on the basic skeleton of the isolated dihydrochalcone, 4&#8242;,6&#8242;-dihydroxy-4-methoxydihydrochalcone 2&#8242;-O-&#946;-d-glucopyranoside and characteristic LC-MS/MS fragmentation patterns. This is the first comprehensive analysis for the identification of compounds from L. indica using LC-MS. A total 24 compounds including three new dihydrochalcones were identified for the first time from the genus Leea