Antibacterial and antiandrogen flavonoids from Sophora flavescens

Sixteen flavanones, three flavanonols, and four pterocarpans were isolated from the MeOH extract of the roots of Sophora flavescens. Twelve of these w ere new compounds, including eight prenylflavanones (1-8), one prenylflavan onol (9), and three novel pterocarpane derivatives (10-12). Their structure s were elucidated using NMR and mass spectral methods. Some of these compou nds have irregular C-10 prenyl moieties at C-8 of the flavanone skeleton. T hese compounds exhibited significant antibacterial activities against the G ram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, S. epidermi dis, and Propionibacterium acnes. They also exhibited antiandrogen activiti es.