Planta Med 2010; 76 - P62
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1251824

Phytochemical Study of Galega officinalis

M Chan 1, J Zhao 2, PN Brown 1, IA Khan 2
  • 1British Columbia Institute of Technology, 3700 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby, B.C., V5G-3H2, Canada
  • 2National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS, 38677, USA

Galega officinalis, commonly known as Goat's Rue, is a perennial herb originating from the Middle East. It was widely cultivated and has since been naturalized throughout Europe, western Asia, western Pakistan and parts of the United States. Goat's rue, traditionally used as a diuretic and tonic, has more recently been found to be effective at relieving the symptoms associated with diabetes. Specifically, guanidine derivatives isolated from the plant were discovered to have a lowering effect on blood glucose levels. These compounds, including galegine (1), were the basis for the development of metformin and other biguanide drugs for diabetes treatment. With the exception of the guandine derivatives there are few reports on the phytochemical composition of this plant. In this paper we describe the isolation and identification of chemical constituents from this plant.

Fig.1

Acknowledgements: This research is supported in part by Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements and Botanical Dietary Supplement Research funded by the Food and Drug Administration grant numbers 5U01FD002071–09 and 1U01FD003871–01, and the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Specific Cooperative Agreement No. 58–6408–2-0009.