Patuletin

Patuletin at a Glance

Patuletin is a methylated flavonol — structurally 6-methoxyquercetin, i.e. quercetin carrying an extra oxygen at the 6-position that has been capped with a methyl group. It is the 6-methyl ether of quercetagetin, the 6-hydroxy flavonol that is its direct biosynthetic precursor. It takes its name from the French marigold, Tagetes patula, and occurs across the daisy family (Asteraceae), most often bound up as sugar conjugates such as patulitrin (patuletin 7-O-glucoside) rather than as the free aglycone.

The honest headline is that patuletin is a thinly studied molecule. It has a scattering of preclinical reports — antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, a single-cell-line anticancer signal, and some antimicrobial and computational antiviral work — but no human studies of any kind, and in most of that work it is one flavonol among several in a whole-plant extract rather than the isolated compound. Its safety flag is low, reflecting minor dietary exposure and the absence of a dedicated human toxicology profile rather than positive evidence of safety.

What It's Used For

The evidence base is small and entirely preclinical. It is strongest for anti-inflammatory activity — where the isolated molecule and its glycosides have actually been tested in animals — and thins out quickly into single in-vitro reports for the other applications.

Evidence by IndicationStrength of support · Beta

Support is an experimental score — weighted by study type (human > animal > in vitro) and volume. A beta, not a validated metric. Every row here rests on preclinical data only; the scores rank thin evidence against thinner evidence, not against human proof.

01Anti-inflammatoryShaky38%Isolated patuletin/patulitrin reduce oedema in mice; glycosides lower ROS/IL-8/TNF-α in vitro ^{1,2,3Reference 1Corrêa WR et al. · 2018Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of the Extract, Tiliroside, and Patuletin 3-O-β-D-Glucopyranoside from Pfaffia townsendii (Amaranthaceae)View study →Reference 2Pawłowska K et al. · 2018Anti-inflammatory Potential of Flavonoids from the Aerial Parts of Corispermum marschalliiView study →Reference 3Yasukawa K · 2013Effects of Flavonoids from French Marigold (Florets of Tagetes patula L.) on Acute Inflammation ModelView study →}

02AntioxidantShaky30%In-vitro radical scavenging, mostly as a marigold/Pfaffia extract constituent ^{1,4Reference 1Corrêa WR et al. · 2018Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of the Extract, Tiliroside, and Patuletin 3-O-β-D-Glucopyranoside from Pfaffia townsendii (Amaranthaceae)View study →Reference 4Céspedes CL et al. · 2006Antifungal and antibacterial activities of Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida)View study →}

03Anticancer / antiproliferativeShaky22%Single cell line (SK-BR-3): fatty-acid-synthase downregulation → apoptosis ^{5Reference 5Zhu W et al. · 2017Patuletin induces apoptosis of human breast cancer SK-BR-3 cell line via inhibiting fatty acid synthase gene expression and activityView study →}

04Antimicrobial / antiviralShaky18%In-vitro anti-virulence vs S. aureus ^{6Reference 6Metwaly AM et al. · 2024In vitroAnti-virulence potential of patuletin, a natural flavone, against Staphylococcus aureus: In vitro and In silico investigationsView study →}; in-silico SARS-CoV-2 docking ^{7Reference 7Metwaly AM et al. · 2022The Computational Preventive Potential of the Rare Flavonoid, Patuletin, Isolated from Tagetes patula, against SARS-CoV-2View study →}; screening-level antimicrobial ^{4Reference 4Céspedes CL et al. · 2006Antifungal and antibacterial activities of Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida)View study →}

Mechanisms

The load-bearing point is scale: only the anti-inflammatory row rests on animal data for the isolated molecule; the rest are single in-vitro or computational reports.

Pharmacokinetics

There is no dedicated human pharmacokinetic data for patuletin. As a polar flavonol aglycone that occurs in plants mainly as glycosides (patulitrin, patuletin 3-O-glucoside), its likely behaviour mirrors that of related dietary flavonols such as quercetin: low oral bioavailability, extensive first-pass phase-II conjugation (glucuronidation, sulfation, O-methylation) and rapid clearance. No absorption fraction, half-life or active-metabolite profile has been measured for patuletin specifically.

This is a real caveat, not a footnote: the in-vitro concentrations that produce patuletin’s reported effects may never be reached in blood or tissue after realistic oral intake — the standard limitation on flavonol pharmacology.

Clinical Trials

There are no clinical trials of patuletin. The entire evidence base is cell-culture, rodent and computational.

Last checked: July 2026.

Isolate vs. Plant Studies

The evidence divides in an instructive way. The anti-inflammatory work is the strongest precisely because the isolated molecule (and its purified glycosides patulitrin and patuletin 3-O-glucoside) was the thing tested, in animal oedema models ^{1,3Reference 1Corrêa WR et al. · 2018Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of the Extract, Tiliroside, and Patuletin 3-O-β-D-Glucopyranoside from Pfaffia townsendii (Amaranthaceae)View study →Reference 3Yasukawa K · 2013Effects of Flavonoids from French Marigold (Florets of Tagetes patula L.) on Acute Inflammation ModelView study →} — a genuine strength for such a minor compound. The antioxidant and antimicrobial signals, by contrast, largely come from whole marigold, tarragon and Pfaffia extracts, where patuletin is one flavonol among quercetin, quercetagetin, isorhamnetin and others ^{4Reference 4Céspedes CL et al. · 2006Antifungal and antibacterial activities of Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida)View study →}, so its individual contribution is hard to separate. Across the board there are no human studies of the isolate or of any patuletin-standardised extract, which is the honest ceiling on all of the above.

Prevalence in Nature

Patuletin is a 6-oxygenated flavonol of the daisy family (Asteraceae). It was named for the French marigold, Tagetes patula, and occurs across Tagetes (including Mexican tarragon, T. lucida), in wormwoods (Artemisia) as part of the flavonol-glycoside antioxidant fraction, and in genera such as Inula (e.g. Inula japonica), Flaveria and Corispermum ^{2Reference 2Pawłowska K et al. · 2018Anti-inflammatory Potential of Flavonoids from the Aerial Parts of Corispermum marschalliiView study →}. Beyond the Asteraceae it has been reported from Guiera senegalensis (Combretaceae) and from suma / Brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia) in the Amaranthaceae, where a patuletin glycoside co-occurs with tiliroside ^{1Reference 1Corrêa WR et al. · 2018Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of the Extract, Tiliroside, and Patuletin 3-O-β-D-Glucopyranoside from Pfaffia townsendii (Amaranthaceae)View study →}.

In plants it is usually stored as glycosides — patulitrin (the 7-O-glucoside), patuletin 3-O-glucoside and 3-O-rutinoside — rather than as the free aglycone. Quantitative concentrations are rarely reported, so patuletin’s true abundance in any given herb is largely uncharacterised (see gaps).

Discovery & Synthesis

Patuletin takes its name from Tagetes patula, the French marigold from which it was characterised; a precise first-isolation date and author are not well documented in the accessible literature. Structurally it is 6-methoxyquercetin — quercetin hydroxylated at C-6 and then O-methylated — which places it one biosynthetic step beyond its precursor quercetagetin (6-hydroxyquercetin). No total synthesis of note is documented; in practice patuletin is obtained by extraction and chromatographic isolation from marigold and related flowers, and is supplied mainly as an analytical reference standard rather than manufactured at scale.

Patents: not yet researched.

Toxicity & Safety

Patuletin carries a low flag. This reflects that it is a minor dietary flavonol encountered only in trace amounts in marigold, tarragon and wormwood preparations, and that it has no history of use as an isolated supplement or drug — not a positive demonstration of safety. No dedicated human toxicology, genotoxicity or reproductive-toxicity dataset exists for the isolated molecule, and, as with other 3-hydroxyflavonols, in-vitro genotoxicity signals cannot be ruled out on the current evidence.

Safety at a Glance

✅ Low / no toxicity

• No signal of harm at dietary exposure. Present only in small amounts in commonly used herbs, with no reported adverse events.
• No human safety data. Patuletin has never been dosed as an isolate in people; its safety at supplemental doses is unknown.
• Interactions and reproductive safety not assessed. No drug-interaction or pregnancy/lactation data exist for the isolated compound; those decisions belong to the herb or product that contains it.

Dosage

There is no established dose for patuletin. It has never been administered as an isolated supplement or drug in humans, and the figures in the literature are the cell-culture and animal doses used in the studies above — not intake guidance. Real-world exposure is limited to the trace patuletin (and its glycosides) present in marigold, tarragon and wormwood teas and extracts. Any numbers here would be research quantities, not a personal recommendation.

References

1. Corrêa WR, Serain AF, Aranha Netto L, et al. (2018). Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of the Extract, Tiliroside, and Patuletin 3-O-β-D-Glucopyranoside from Pfaffia townsendii (Amaranthaceae). Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30364020/
2. Pawłowska K, et al. (2018). Anti-inflammatory Potential of Flavonoids from the Aerial Parts of Corispermum marschallii. Journal of Natural Products. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30109803/
3. Yasukawa K, Kasahara Y (2013). Effects of Flavonoids from French Marigold (Florets of Tagetes patula L.) on Acute Inflammation Model. International Journal of Inflammation. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24175111/
4. Céspedes CL, Avila JG, Martínez A, et al. (2006). Antifungal and antibacterial activities of Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19127719/
5. Zhu W, Lv C, Wang J, et al. (2017). Patuletin induces apoptosis of human breast cancer SK-BR-3 cell line via inhibiting fatty acid synthase gene expression and activity. Oncology Letters. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29344187/
6. Metwaly AM, Elkaeed EB, Alsfouk BA, et al. (2024). Anti-virulence potential of patuletin, a natural flavone, against Staphylococcus aureus: In vitro and In silico investigations. Heliyon. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38293404/
7. Metwaly AM, Elkaeed EB, Alsfouk BA, et al. (2022). The Computational Preventive Potential of the Rare Flavonoid, Patuletin, Isolated from Tagetes patula, against SARS-CoV-2. Plants (Basel). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35890520/

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