International Journal of Modern Botany 2014, 4(1): 1-7 DOI: 10.5923/j.ijmb.20140401.01 Fruit Flavonoids of Some Species of Subgenera Esula and Chamaesyce (Euphorbia) in Iran Mahdi Kaveh 1 , Mitra Noori 2,* 1 Young Researchers Club, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Arak University, 38156-8-8349, Arak, Iran Abstract In this research, fruit flavonoids characters of some collected Euphorbia species (subgenera Esula and Chamaesyce) from Markazi province, Iran area were studied using 2-Dimentional Paper Chromatography (2-DPC), Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and available standard flavonoids. Voucher specimens were prepared for reference as herbarium voucher. Our studies showed that all of studied Euphorbia species had flavonoids considerably. Flavonoid sulphates and flavone C- and C-/O-glucosides existed in fruit of studied taxa, while dihyro flavonol 3-O-monoglycosides just were found in E. falcata. Kaempferol were detected in all of studied species in contrast to rhamnetin which was found only in E. ozyridiforma. Concenteration and variety of flavonoid componds in studied taxa of subgenera Esula were more than subgenera Chamaesyce. Some flavonoid compounds including myricetin, naringenin and rhamnetin were not detected in Euphorbia studied species of subgenera Chamaesyce. Keywords Subgenera Esula, Subgenera Chamaesyce, Euphorbia, Flavonoids compounds, Chromatography 1. Introduction The Euphorbiaceae is one of the larger families of flowering plants with ca. 300 genera and 8000 species [1, 2]. The genus Euphorbia belongs to the subfamily Euphorbioideae and comprises ca. 2000 species, mainly distributed in subtropical and warm temperate regions [3, 4]. Euphorbia subgenus Esula is the largest subgenus within Euphorbia, which largely corresponds to Boissier's Euphorbia sect. Tithymalus and has about 500 species. Subgenera Chamasyce is the large segregate genus from Euphorbia with about 300 species. Euphorbieae and Euphorbia are generally considered taxonomically difficult, and a considerable degree of uncertainty has always existed about the relationships of the groups within them [5]. Plant chemosystematics is the application of chemical data to systematic problems. It is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field concerned with using chemical constituents for explaining relationships between plants and inferring phylogeny [6]. Flavonoids are popular compounds for chemotaxonomic surveys of plant genera and families because of their almost ubiquitous presence in vascular plants, structural variety, ease of detection and relative ease of identification [7]. They are the most numerous of the phenolics and are found throughout the plant kingdom [8]. * Corresponding author: m-noori@araku.ac.ir (Mitra Noori) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ijmb Copyright © 2014 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved To date, more than 6400 different flavonoid compounds have been identified [9] and the pathways responsible for their synthesis have been characterized in detail in numerous plant species [10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. Flavonoids are present in high concentrations in the epidermis of leaves and the skin of fruits and have important and varied roles as secondary metabolites. They are widely distributed in foods and beverages of plant origin, such as fruits, vegetables, tea, cocoa, and wine [15, 16]. Within the subgroups of the flavonols and the flavones, the flavonol quercetin is the most frequently occurring compound in foods and also kaempferol, myricetin, and the flavones apigenin and luteolin are common [17]. Different classes of flavonoids and their conjugates have numerous functions during the interactions of plant with the environment, both in biotic and abiotic stress conditions [18, 19]. Many flavonoids are active principles of medicinal plants and exhibit pharmacological effects [20]. Flavonoids play a variety of significant functions in plants as signal molecules [21], agents for pollen germination [22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27], and seed germination [28, 29], pollinator attractants [30], regulators of auxin transport [18, 31, 32, 33], UV filters [34, 35], antimicrobial [36, 37] and antiherbivory agents [38]. Some flavonoids such as quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, apigenin, and leuteolin also have antioxidative activity in many in vitro studies [39]. Moreover, plants use the huge variety of secondary metabolites as tools to overcome stress [40]. Flavonoids are a diverse group of natural product found in all plants [41, 42]. Bryophytes (mosses), liverworts, hornworts are the oldest plant group to produce chalcone,