Identification of antioxidant compound from Asparagus racemosus.

Roots of Asparagus racemosus were found to possess antioxidant property. DPPH autography-directed separation resulted in the identification of a new antioxidant compound named racemofuran (3) along with two known compounds asparagamine A (1) and racemosol (2). The structure of 3 was fully characterized by spectroscopic data (UV, MS, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and 2D NMR). Racemofuran revealed antioxidant property against DPPH with IC50 value of 130 microM. Copyright (c) 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.