Isolation and hypoglycemic activity of a novel pongamiaflavonylflavonol from pongamia pinnata pods

Pongamia pinnata (family Papilionaceae) has been used for bronchitis, whooping cough, rheumatic joints and quench dipsia in diabetes. This study deals with the isolation of a new hypoglycemic phytoconstituent from P. pinnata pods. The hypoglycemic activity of the isolated phytoconstituent was evaluated in comparison of the methanolic extract of the pods. Methanolic extract of P. pinnata pods was fractionated by column chromatography and the isolated compounds were identified by spectral analysis. A new compound named Pongamiaflavonylflavonol was isolated from chloroform: methanol (97:3) eluant. This new isolated compound was studied for hypoglycemic activity in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Methanolic extract of P. pinnata pods and pongamiaflavonylflavonol showed significant hypoglycemic activity in streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemic rats after oral administration. At the end of 6 h the new compound showed 12.15% reduction in blood glucose level in comparison of extract (11.36%) against the standard (16.93%). It can be concluded that the novel Pongamiaflavonylflavonol isolated from P. pinnata pods may be useful as oral hypoglycemic therapeutic agent. This may serve as a lead compound for development of more potent drugs for clinical use in diabetes.