Homoisoflavanones and Biogenetically Related Compounds

The homoisoflavanones belong to a small family of natural products whose first member was isolated by Boehler and Tamm in 1967 from bulbs of Eucomis bicolor Bak. (9). Their discovery resulted from a systematic chemical analysis of Liliaceae for cardiac glycosides. However, unlike the botanically closely related Urginea maritima (L.) Bak. (Squill) and some species of Scilla, Ornithogalum and Dipcadi (33), Eucomis plants did not contain even traces of these compounds.