Journal of Food Lipids 12 (2005) 141–149. All Rights Reserved. © Copyright 2005, Blackwell Publishing 141 ANTIOXIDATIVE FLAVONOIDS FROM THE FLOWER OF INULA BRITANNICA NAISHENG BAI 1 , ZHU ZHOU 2 , NANQUN ZHU 1 , LI ZHANG 1 , ZHENG QUAN 3 , KAN HE 3 , QUN YI ZHENG 3 and CHI-TANG HO 1,4 1 Department of Food Science Rutgers University 65 Dudley Road New Brunswick, NJ 08901 2 College of Pharmacy Fudan University Shanghai, 200032 China 3 Pureworld Botanicals, Inc. 375 Huyler Street South Hackensack, NJ 07606 Received for Publication July 13, 2004 Accepted for Publication January 10, 2005 ABSTRACT Eight flavonoids were identified from the flowers of Inula britannica var. chinensis as luteolin, diosmetin, chrysoeriol, kaempferol, quercetin, 6- hydroxyluteolin-6-methyl ether, spinacetin and eupatin. Their structures were established by spectroscopic methods. All of the identified compounds exhib- ited considerable antioxidant activity in the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Diosmetin (2) showed a strong growth inhibitory effect against P-388 leukemia cells. INTRODUCTION Inula, from Compositae, has more than one hundred species and is found mainly in Europe, Africa and Asia. Inula britannica is a wild plant found in Eastern Asia, including China, Korea and Japan. In traditional Chinese medicine, both Inula britannica and Inula japonica are called Xuanfuhua. The flowers from these plants have been used for the treatment of digestive Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKJFLJournal of Food Lipids1065-7258Copyright 2005 by Food & Nutrition Press, Inc., Trumbull, Connecticut.122141149Original ArticleFLAVONOIDS FROM INULA BRITANNICA N. BAI ET AL. 4 Corresponding author. TEL: (732) 932-9611, ext. 235; FAX: (732) 932-6776; EMAIL: ho@aesop.rutgers.edu