Chemical constituents from Sophora tonkinensis and their glucose transporter 4 translocation activities

Bioassay-guided phytochemical investigation of the EtOAc fraction (ST-EtOAc) from the roots of Sophora tonkinensis resulted in the isolation of a new compound 6aR,11aR-1-hydroxy-4-isoprenyl-maackiain (1), along with 12 known compounds (2–13). The structure of the new compound was established by 1D and 2D NMR, MS data and circular dichroism analysis. Polyprenylated flavonoids 6–9 and 11–13 increased GLUT-4 translocation by the range of 1.35–2.75 folds. Sophoranone (8) exerted the strongest activity with 2.75 folds GLUT-4 translocation enhancement at the concentration of 10 μM. This is the first report of the GLUT-4 translocation activity of the plant Sophora tonkinensis.