Phytochemical analysis of Linaria purpurea (L.) Mill. and inhibitory activity on the production of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in Aspergillus flavus Link. of one of its metabolites, antirrhinoside

In this work, the first phytochemical study on the total polar fraction of Linaria purpurea (L.) Mill. was performed by means of column chromatography and NMR and MS analysis. Seven compounds were identified i.e. pheophytin a (1), methyl-pheophorbide a (2), linaride (3), antirrhide (4), antirrhinoside (5), linarioside (6) and shikimic acid (7), belonging to three different classes of natural compounds. Compound (2) represents a new compound for the family as well as compound (1) is for the genus and compounds (3, 6, 7) are for the species. The chemosystematic and ethnopharmacological relevance of these results were widely discussed. In addition, compound (5) was tested, for the first time, for its potential antifungal activity, showing to drastically reduce the production of aflatoxin B1 in Aspergillus flavus Link. This further property of compound (5) makes it a potential natural and green anti-aflatoxin B1 agent to be used in the food industry.