A new 2,3-dioxoflavonoid from the aerial part of Hypericum perforatum

Phytochemical study of the aerial parts of Hypericum perforatum L. resulted in the isolation of an undescribed compound, which was identified as Rel-(2S,3R)-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5,7-trihydroxy-2-methoxy-3-(2-oxopropyl)chroman-4-one (1) by spectroscopic methods including UV, IR, HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectra. Compound 1 is a new 2,3-dioxo-flavone with an acetonyl moiety, rarely found in nature. In addition, a plausible biogenetic pathway of 1 was proposed in this article.