LINEAR FURANOCOUMARINS AND GRAVEOLONE FROM THE COMMON HERB PARSLEY

Fresh parsley leaves and dried parsley flakes were analysed for furano coumarins. This is the first reported isolation of the linear furanoco umarin, saxalin, from parsley. The coumarin, graveolone, has been prev iously shown to occur in parsley cell suspension culture; however, thi s is the first description of its isolation from the plant. Psoralen, bergapten, xanthotoxin, isoimperatorin, isopimpinellin, oxypeucedanin, and oxypeucedanin hydrate were also found, and the levels of psoralen , bergapten, xanthotoxin and isopimpinellin were quantified by HPLC in fresh and dried parsley flakes. Fresh parsley leaves were found to ha ve a total of 112 mu gg(-1) fr. wt. One brand of parsley flakes had a total of 304 mu gg(-1) dry wt of the three major photosensitizing line ar furanocoumarins (psoralen, bergapten and xanthotoxin).