Comprehensive study of Anthriscus sylvestris lignans

Wild chervil (Anthriscus sylvestris) is a widespread, wild-growing herbaceous plant from Apiaceae family, known for high content of lignans related to podophyllotoxin, and thus representing a promising new source for their industrial isolation. The data on detailed chemical profile of A. sylvestris lignans are still lacking. By combining fractionation with non-targeted LC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS metabolite profiling, we have identified, fully or tentatively, 46 lignans, 12 of which were never reported in A. sylvestris and 19 in any biological source. The dominant lignans were found to be nemerosin, yatein, deoxypodophyllotoxin, podophyllotoxin, podophyllotoxone and guayadequiol. In addition to well-known dibenzylbutyrolactones, aryltetralins and 7-oxygenated aryltetralins, we found several oxygenated lignan classes previously undescribed in A. sylvestris – 7-hydroxy, 7-oxo and 8-hydroxydibenzylbutyrolactones, a 7′-oxotetrahydrofuran and a 7-hydroxyarylnaphthalene. To facilitate future rapid classification and identification of lignans in raw extracts, UV, MS and NMR spectral features of different lignan classes are described. [Display omitted] •Anthriscus sylvestris is rich in structurally diverse lignans.•46 lignans (including 19 undescribed) are identified by UV, ESI-MS and NMR.•Dominant dibenzylbutyrolactones are nemerosin, yatein, guayadequiol.•Dominant aryltetralins are deoxypodophyllotoxin, podophyllotoxin, podophyllotoxone.