Bioactive flavonoids of Tanacetum parthenium revisited

Bio-guided fractionation of an extract from Tanacetum parthenium showing activity as mitotic blocker allowed the isolation and identification of santin 3, jaceidin 2 and centaureidin 1. The latter two closely related flavonols, which, to the best of our knowledge. are isolated here together for the first time, form a mixture difficult to resolve and which is probably the reason for the confusion in the literature regarding their occurrence. Centaureidin 1 had an IC50 of 1 muM while jaceidin 2 and santin 3 were 200 times less active. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.