OBJECTIVETo study the chemical constituents of the inflorescences of Coreopsis tinctoria and provide the chemical basis for development and utilization of this plant.

METHODVarious chromatographic techniques were employed for the isolation and purification of the constituents including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and pre-HPLC. The structures of compounds were elucidated by chemical and spectral analysis (NMR, IR, UV and MS).

RESULTEight compounds have been isolated from the inflorescences of C. tinctoria, including three organic acids which are 3,4-dihydroxybenzoicacid (1), 4-hydroxybenzoicacid (2) and caffeic acid (3), one organic ester which is 4-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-p-coumaric acid methyl ester (4), two flavonones which are 2S-3',5',7-trihydroxyflavanone (5) and (2R,3R)-3,4',5,7-tetrahydroxylflavanone (6), two sterols which are stigmasterol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (7) and beta-sitosterol (8).

CONCLUSIONCompounds 1-7 were isolated from genus Coreopsis for the first time and compound 8 was isolated first from C. tinctoria.