Crabapple trees belong to the
Malus genus (Rosaceae) and bear fruits that are sparingly consumedand used in the preparation of fruit beverages. Cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme inhibitory andantioxidant bioassay-guided fractionation of the aqueous and methanol extracts of
Malus ×
kornicensisand
Malus ×
Indian Summer yielded (+)-catechin (
1), (-)-epicatechin (
2), cyanidin-3-
O-
-galactopyranoside (
3), and amygdalin (
4). Pure compounds
1-
4 were obtained by HPLC, identified by LC-ES/MS, CD, and NMR spectroscopic methods and evaluated for their COX enzyme inhibitory andantioxidant activities. In COX-1 and -2 enzyme inhibitory assays, compounds
1-
3 (all at 80
M)showed activities of 20.4, 46.3%; 57.6, 47.9%; and 8.2, 13.7%, respectively, compared to naproxen(54.3, 41.3%; 10
M), ibuprofen (47.5, 39.8%; 10
M), Celebrex (46.2, 66.3%; 1.67 ppm), and Vioxx(23.8, 88.1%, 1.67 ppm). In the antioxidant assay, the catechins (
1-
2) and anthocyanin (
3) (all at 40
M) showed activities of 61.3, 62.5, and 60.1%, respectively. The synthetic antioxidants,
tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), andvitamin E (all tested at 10
M), gave 75.2, 80.1, 70.0, and 10.2% activities, respectively. Thecyanogenic glycoside, amygdalin (
4), and its hydrolysis products, mandelonitrile (
5) and benzaldehyde(
6), were not active in the antioxidant or COX enzyme inhibitory assays at 80
M concentrations.Keywords:
Malus; Rosaceae; crabapple; catechin; anthocyanin; cyanogenic; antioxidant; cyclooxygenase