Planta Med 2011; 77 - P_54
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1273583

Chemical Studies on the Leaves of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni

WZ Tang 1, W Wang 1, TJ Smillie 1, IA Khan 1, 2, 3
  • 1National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
  • 2Department of Pharmacognosy, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
  • 3Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni is a perennial shrub of the Asteraceae (Compositae) family native to certain regions of South America (Paraguay and Brazil). It is often referred to as ''the sweet herb of Paraguay''[1]. In the United States, powdered Stevia leaves and refined extracts from the leaves have been used as a dietary supplement since 1995 [2]. This plant produces, in its leaves, several ent-kaurene glycosides of the diterpene steviol that are up to 450 times as sweet as sucrose. In this present report, six ent-kaurene glycosides, six flavonoids and a caffeic acate, namely, steviolmonoside (1), steviolbioside (2), dulcoside A (3), stevioside (4), rebaudioside A (5), rebaudioside D (6), quercetin-3-O-β-D-arabinopyranoside (7), kaempferol-3–0-β-D-arabinopyranoside (8), luteolin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (9), kaempferol-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 4)-β-D-arabino pyranoside (10), quercetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-galacopyranoside (11), quercetin-3-O-(4'''-O-trans-caffeoyl)-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-galacopyranoside (12), and methyl ester of 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (13) were described from the leaves of S. rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni. ent-Kaurene glycosides are the main sweet constituents and stevioside (4, 12.85g) and rebaudioside A (5, 4.95g) are very high yield about 4.0% and 1.5%, respectively, in the leaves of S. rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni. Flavonoids are the other main compounds and compounds 8, 10, 11, 13 were obtained for the first time from this plant.

Acknowledgements: Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements and Botanical Dietary Supplement Research funded by the Food and Drug Administration grant numbers 5U01FD002071–10 and 1U01FD003871–02, and the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Specific Cooperative Agreement No.58–6408–2-0009.

References: [1] Soni S, Kondalkar A, et al. (2007) Plant Archives, 7: 503–507. [2] Kinghorn, AD In Stevia: the Genus Stevia. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Industrial Profiles, Vol. 19; Kinghorn, A. D., Ed.; Taylor and Francis: London, 2002; Chapter 1, pp 1–17.