QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF THE FLAVONOID CONTENT OF THE DIFFERENT ORGANS OF SOPHORA JAPONICA AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The flavonoid content of the leaves, flowers and fruits of Sophora japonica L. was investigated, both qualitatively using TLC and quantitatively using a colori-metric method for estimation of the total flavonoids and Chromatographie method for determination of rutin. No qualitative changes were observed in the flowers and leaves during their different stages of development, while the number of separated flavonoids gradually increased during transformation of flowers to fruits, being 5 spots in expanded flowers and 14 spots in the ripe fruits. A kaempferol glycoside began to appear on expansion of the flowers. Sophorabioside, sophora-flavanoloside and genistein glucoside appeared at the beginning of the fruit formation while sophoricoside appeared only at the stage of its maturation. Rutin was found in all the organs at their different stages of development, reaching its maximum in the flower buds (23 per cent) and its minimum in the ripe fruits (4.3 per cent). In case of leaves the percentage decreased from young (8.7 per cent) to mature leaves (4.1 per cent) and then remained without significant changes all over flowering and fruiting seasons.