New benzodioxole compounds from the root extract of Astrodaucus persicus

There are many efforts for identification of natural compounds from dietary or medicinal plants. Young roots and aerial parts of A. persicus have been used as food additive or salad vegetable in some parts of Iran. In this study, different fractions of the root extract of A. persicus were subjected for isolation and purification of secondary metabolites. The methanol extract of the roots was fractionated with hexane (HE), chloroform (CL), ethyl acetate (EA) and methanol (ME). Five novel compounds were isolated from HE, CL and EA using different chromatographic techniques and were identified by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D-NMR and MS spectroscopic methods. Elucidated compounds with benzodioxole structure were characterized for the first time as 5-((propanoyl methyl)amino)-4,7-dimethoxybenzo[d][1,3]dioxole (1), 5-(3-ethyloxiran-2-yloxy)-4,7-dimethoxybenzo[d][1,3]dioxole (2), 4,7-dimethoxy-5-(propanonyl) benzo[d][1,3]dioxole (3), 4-ethoxybenzo[d][1,3]dioxol-6-carbaldehyde (4), and 4-(O-β-D-glucopyranosyl)-6-(3-propanyloxiran-2-yloxy)benzo[d][1,3]dioxole (5).