Abstract
Although the intake of jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC.), an underutilized tropical legume, can potentially decrease the risk of several chronic diseases, not much effort has been directed at profiling the polyphenolics contained therein. Hence, this work aimed to identify and quantify the dominant jack bean polyphenolics, which are believed to have antioxidant and other bioactivities. Four major compounds were detected and identified as kaempferol glycosides with three or four glycoside units. Their structures were established based on UV-visible, 1d, 2D NMR, and HR-ESI-MS analyses. Specifically, kaempferol 3-O-a-l-rhamnopyranosyl (1®6)- b-d-glucopyranosyl (1®2)-b-d-galactopyranosyl-7-O-[3-O-o-anisoyl]-a-l-rhamnopyranoside was detected for the first time, while the other three compounds have already been described in plants other than jack bean. This new compound was found to have a higher a-glucosidase inhibition activity compared to acarbose.