Chemical constituents and their chemotaxonomic significance from the roots of Zea mays L.

Abstract

Phytochemical study on the roots of Zea mays L. provided twenty compounds including four diterpenes, ent-kaurane-2-one-16α,17-diol (1), 16α-H-ent-kauran-17-oic acid (2), ent-17,19-dihydroxykaur-15-en (3), ent-kaur-15-en-17-ol (4), two benzoxazolinones, 2-benzoxazolinone (5), coixol (6), two benzoxazins, 2,7-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one (8), 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-7-hydro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one (9), twelve phenolic derivatives, 6-methoxymellein (7), p-coumaric acid (10), dimethylcaffic acid (11), 4-methoxycinnamic acid (12), sinapic aldehyde acid (13), 1-O-p-coumaroylglyceride (14), cis-N-coumaroyltyramine (15), p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (16), methyl-4-hydroxybenzoate (17), protocatechuic acid (18), acetovanillone (19) and methyl syringate (20). In the present study, nine compounds (1–3, 11, 16–20) have never been previously encountered in the genus Zea. Furthermore, the chemotaxonomic significance of these compounds was also discussed.