Phytochemical studies of Tetrataenium nephrophyllum and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities

Tetrataenium nephrophyllum belonging to the Apiaceae family grows widely in the West Azerbaijan province of Northwestern Iran. It is an aromatic plant that has been used as food spices by local people. In this research work, the phytochemical composition of n-hexane extract from the aerial parts of this plant has been investigated. The fractionation of the n-hexane extract by normal phase column chromatography resulted in the isolation, purification, and identification of five compounds. The structural elucidation was accomplished by extensive spectroscopic methods, including 1D and 2D NMR experiments (1H-NMR, H-H-COSY, HSQC, HMBC, and NOESY) as well as ESI-MS analysis. The isolated compounds were 5-geranyloxycoumarin (1), isobergapten (2), pimpinellin (3), β-sitosterol (4) and dammara- 20,23-dien-3β,25-diol. The acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity of the isolated compound was evaluated by experimental and molecular docking methods. Compound 3 showed the best acetylcholinesterase inhibitory with an IC50 value of 0.208 μM and docking score of -7.5 kcal/mol.