Constituents of Lepidium meyenii 'maca'

The tubers of Lepidium meyenii contain the benzylated derivative of 1,2-dihydro-N-hydroxypyridine, named macaridine, together with the benzylated alkamides (macamides), N-benzyl-5-oxo-6E,8E-octadecadienamide and AT-benzylhexadecanamide, as well as the acyclic keto acid, 5-oxo-6E,8E-octadecadienoic acid. The structure elucidation of the isolated Compounds was based primarily on 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analyses, including H-1-H-1 COSY, H-1-C-13 HMQC, H-1-C-13 HMBC and H-1-H-1 NOESY experiments, as well as from H-1-N-15 NMR HMBC correlations for macaridine and N-benzylhexadecanamide. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.