Chem. Pharm. Bull. 55(8) 1181—1184 (2007)

Many of the Hedysarum plants have been used as folk remedies in China, especially as detoxifying and diuretic agents, and also with some efficacy against diabetes and chronic nephritis as recorded in some Chinese herbal books. Extracts of some species of Hedysarum have been reported to have the potential to treat dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from the results of their improving learning ability and memory of mice in vivo and showing remarkable acctylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity in vitro. Furthermore, these extracts might show promise against myocarditis and to stop low-level replication of HBV, combination with anti-hepatitis B vaccine (EV therapy), as well as to have antioxidant effect, cell-regenerating effect, and anti-aging effect. The chemical components of 40 species were studied from 285 genus Hedysarum species. The compounds found in the plants include isoprenoids, alkaloids, amino acids, phenol compounds (flavoids, coumarins, xanthones, phenolic acids), mono-, oligo-, and polysaccharides, aliph compounds, macroand microelements, and vitamins, many of them being of interest for traditional and modern medicines. We studied the dried rhizomes of Hedysarum scoparium found in desert areas of northwestern China and obtained four new prenylisoflavone derivatives 1—4, and three known ones 5— 7 from this species. Herein, we report their isolation and structural determination.