Pharmacognosic Studies on Some Genista L. Species Growing in Turkey

Genus Genista, belonging to the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae), is naturally distributed in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. In our study, in contrast to previous research, we conducted a general isolation study based on the preparation of methanol total extracts from the aerial parts of G. burdurensis P. Gibbs. (endemic) and G. anatolica Boiss., and investigated their in vitro cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities, with a focus on the more active species. Following preliminary studies, liquid-liquid chromatography was used to prepare n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and aqueous sub-extracts from the methanol total extract of the selected G. burdurensis. Evaluation of the in vitro cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities of these sub-extracts revealed that the ethyl acetate extract exhibited higher activity compared to the others. Subsequently, an LC-QTOF-MS study was conducted to assess the general chemical content profile of the ethyl acetate extract obtained from G. burdurensis. In the isolation study carried out with G. burdurensis, compounds E-2, E-3, E-4, E-6, E-7, H-1, and E-5 were isolated, and their structures were determined as genistein-8-C-glucoside, genistein-7-O-β-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-β-glucopyranoside, luteolin-4'-O-β-glucoside, luteolin, and luteolin-7-O-β-glucoside, respectively. Compound E-5 was identified as a glucorhamnoside derivative of luteolin methoxy. The quantities of four major isolated compounds, namely genistein-7-O-β-glucoside, luteolin-4'-O-β-glucoside, luteolin, and luteolin-7-O-β-glucoside, were determined through quantitative analysis. Furthermore, their in vitro cytotoxic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated.