Rapid analysis of Radix puerariae by near-infrared spectroscopy

A new, rapid analytical method using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was developed to differentiate two species of Radix puerariae (GG), Pueraria lobata (YG) and Pueraria thomsonii (FG), and to determine the contents of puerarin, daidzin and total isoflavonoid in the samples. Five isoflavonoids, puerarin, daidzin, daidzein, genistin and genistein were analyzed simultaneously by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The total isoflavonoid content was exploited as critical parameter for successful discrimination of the two species. Scattering effect and baseline shift in the NIR spectra were corrected and the spectral features were enhanced by several pre-processing methods. By using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and soft independent modeling class analogy (SIMCA), samples were separated successfully into two different clusters corresponding to the two GG species. Furthermore, sensitivity and specificity of the classification models were determined to evaluate the performance. Finally, partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to build the correlation models. The results showed that the correlation coefficients of the prediction models are R = 0.970 for the puerarin, R = 0.939 for daidzin and R = 0.969 for total isoflavonoid. The outcome showed that NIRS can serve as routine screening in the quality control of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM).     

Selective extraction of berberine from Cortex Phellodendri using polydopamine‐coated magnetic nanoparticles

A new extraction agent featuring dopamine self‐polymerized on magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles has been successfully synthesized and evaluated for the SPE of berberine from the extract of the traditional Chinese medicinal plant, Cortex Phellodendri. The nanoparticles prepared possessed a core–shell structure and showed super‐paramagnetism. It was found that these polydopamine‐coated nanoparticles exhibited strong and selective adsorption for berberine. Among the chemical components present in C. Phellodendri, only berberine was adsorbed by the nanoparticles and extracted by a following SPE procedure. Various conditions such as the amount of polydopamine‐coated nanoparticles, desorption solvent, desorption time and equilibrium time were optimized for the SPE of berberine. The purity of berberine extracted from C. Phellodendri was determined to be as high as 91.3% compared with that of 9.5% in the extract. The established SPE protocol combined advantages of highly selective enrichment with easy magnetic separation, and proved to be a facile efficient procedure for the isolation of berberine. Further, the prepared polydopamine‐coated magnetic nanoparticles could be reused for multiple times, reducing operational cost. The applicability and reliability of the developed SPE method were demonstrated by isolating berberine from three different C. Phellodendri extracts. Recoveries of 85.4–111.2% were obtained with relative standard deviations ranging from 0.27–2.05%.     

高速逆流制备分离中药黄柏中的生物碱

 利用高速逆流对传统中药黄柏中的生物碱类活性成分进行了制备分离。两相溶剂分离系统采用氯仿 甲醇 0 5mol/LHCl(体积比为 2∶1∶1) ,并对制备物进行了薄层分析。证实了生物碱成分 ,检出了小檗碱。     

加压毛细管电色谱在建立中药黄柏指纹图谱中的方法学研究

以加压毛细管电色谱（pCEC）为技术平台,对其在建立中药黄柏指纹图谱中的方法学进行了研究．通过对提取溶剂、流动相中有机相种类、盐溶液等条件的优化,发现1％盐酸的甲醇溶液为提取溶液,20mmol／LNH4C1溶液．乙腈为流动相梯度洗脱,紫外检测波长为230nm时对其分离效果最好．并通过在色谱柱上施加不同的电压,详细地阐明了pCEC的双重分离机制对分离选择性的影响,发现黄柏中的主要成分药根碱、巴马汀和小檗碱在pCEC模式中随电压的不同,有不同的出峰顺序．当电压为0—4kV时出峰顺序为药根碱、巴马汀和小檗碱,当电压为8—14kV时出峰顺序为药根碱、小檗碱和巴马汀．对此原因进行了详细讨论,同时与微径液相色谱模式进行了比较,说明pCEC可以为复杂样品的分离提供更多更好的分离途径．     

Study on the racemization of synephrine by off-column chiral high-performance liquid chromatography

In this study, the racemization kinetic parameters of R-(−)-synephrine, the active phenethylamine alkaloid of Citrus aurantium L., were determined by means of an off-column HPLC method. Enantioseparation was carried out in different buffer solutions and solvents on a chiral stationary phase (CSP) with cellobiohydrolase as the chiral selector (Chiral-CBH, 100 mm × 4.0 mm i.d., 5 μm). The mobile phase was 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0)-2-propanol (95:5, w/w), with 50 μM disodium EDTA, at 0.8 mL/min. The column was thermostatted at 20 °C and detection was set at 225 nm. The influence of pH value, ionic strength, temperature and addition of organic modifier on the rate constant, the half-life of racemization and the free energy barrier of racemization of R-(−)-synephrine were determined. Among the different chemical and physical parameters evaluated as affecting the racemization of naturally occurring R-(−)-synephrine, pH, temperature and addition of an organic co-solvent appear to have the strongest effect, while ionic strength does not exert a significant influence on the racemization rate. The results of the present study indicated that synephrine racemization is possible at high temperature at both acidic and basic pH values; therefore, the extraction procedure of R-(−)-synephrine from the plant material should be carried out under specific conditions to preserve the stereochemical integrity and the biological activity of this secondary metabolite.     

N-Demethyl-sauroxine,a novel Lycodine Group alkaloid from Huperzia saururus

The present study describes the isolation and identification of N-demethyl-sauroxine, a novel Lycopodium alkaloid obtained from Huperzia saururus (Lam.) Trevis. (Lycopodiaceae). Its structure and relative stereochemistry were elucidated on the basis of its spectral data and chemical correlations. Additionally, acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity was evaluated (IC₅₀ = 209.6 ± 1.1 μM). The structure of the already identified alkaloid sauroxine was also re-validated through two dimensional NMR data.     

Infrared spectroscopy and outer product analysis for quantification of fat, nitrogen, and moisture of cocoa powder

The combination of the near infrared (NIR) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) absorbance spectra (1100-2500 nm and 4000-600 cm⁻¹) of 100 cocoa powder samples was used to build calibration models for the determination of the content of fat, nitrogen, and moisture. The samples that comprised the dataset had an average composition of 13.51% of fat, 3.77% nitrogen, and 3.98% moisture. The fat content ranged from 2.42 to 22.00%, the nitrogen from 0.88 to 4.48%, and moisture from 1.60 to 7.80%. For NIR, the relative root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) was 7.0% (R² = 0.96) for fat, 1.7% (R² = 0.98) for nitrogen, and 5.2% (R² = 0.94) for moisture. For FTIR, the relative RMSECV was 10.4% (R² = 0.94) for fat and 3.9% (R² = 0.95) for nitrogen. However, for moisture, it was not possible to build a calibration model with suitable predictability. The combination of the NIR and FTIR domains (data fusion) by outer product analysis PLS1 allowed to predict these parameters and to characterise frequencies in one domain based on the information of the other domain. This work allows to conclude that the second derivative of NIR is the recommended procedure to quantify fat, nitrogen, and moisture content in cocoa powders by infrared spectroscopy.     

Simultaneous determination of Ephedra sinica and Citrus aurantium var. amara alkaloids by ion-pair chromatography

Ephedra sinica (Ma Huang) preparations have recently gained a lot of attention because of serious side effects associated with their prolonged consumption. Citrus aurantium var. amara is now used as an alternative, despite the fact that similar side effects are suspected. We have developed and validated the first analytical procedure for the simultaneous determination of all major alkaloids from both species. Using the ion-pairing reagent SDS, a C-18 stationary phase (3 μm material) and a pH-gradient for elution enabled the baseline separation of six alkaloids ((±)-octopamine, (±)-synephrine, tyramine, (−)-norephedrine, (+)-pseudoephedrine and (−)-ephedrine) within less than 30 min. The method is sensitive (LOD ≤ 4.6 ng and LOQ ≤ 16.2 ng on-column), selective (l-tyrosine and l-phenylalanine, two closely related amino acids did not interfere), accurate (recovery rates of spiked samples were between 97.5 and 102.0%), repeatable (σ_rel ≤ 4.6%) and precise (intra-day variation ≤7.7%, inter-day variation ≤7.0%). Without the need of a special sample treatment different matrices (plant material, commercial products) were successfully analyzed for their alkaloid content. Dominant alkaloids were (−)-ephedrine (0.9-1.6%) and/or (±)-synephrine (0.1-3.0%). Whether a product contained Ephedra-alkaloids or not could be determined in all investigated samples unambiguously.     

Selective and sensitive determination of protoberberines by capillary electrophoresis coupled with molecularly imprinted microextraction

In this work, we developed a novel molecularly imprinted solid‐phase microextraction with capillary electrophoresis method for the selective extraction and determination of protoberberines in complicated samples. The imprinted monolith was prepared in a micropipette tip‐based device by using acrylamide as the functional monomer, ethyleneglyoldimethacrylate as the cross‐linker and dimethylsulfoxide as the porogen, and exhibited an imprinting factor of 2.41 to berberine, 2.36 to palmatine and 2.38 to jatrorrhizine. Good capillary electrophoresis separation was achieved by using 20 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7 as running buffer with the addition of organic modifier of 10% methanol. Parameters such as sample pH value, sample flow rate and sample volume were investigated for imprinted monolith‐based solid‐phase microextraction. An imprinted solid‐phase microextraction with capillary electrophoresis method was developed, the method showed a wide linear range (0.3–50 μg/mL), good linearity (R² ≥ 0.9947) and good reproducibility (relative standard deviations ≤ 0.73%), the limit of detection was as low as 0.1 μg/mL, which was lower than some reported methods based on capillary electrophoresis for protoberberines. The method has been applied for determination of three common protoberberines in Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis, by using a molecularly imprinted monolith as the selective sorbent, most of the matrices in the Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis sample were removed and three protoberberines were selectively enriched and well determined.     

Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Alkaloids in Cortex Phellodendri by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS and HPLC-DAD

A combined method of high performance liquid chromatograph-elecrtrospray-ionization mass spectrometer(HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) coupled with a photodiode array detector(HPLC-DAD) and principal component analysis(PCA) was applied to the qualitative and quantitative analyses of alkaloids in Cortex Phellodendri(CP) samples, and to the differentiation of two species of CP, Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis(CPC) and Cortex Phellodendri Amurensis(CPA). Twenty-two peaks appeared in the HPLC-MS base peak chromatogram of CP detec...     

A simple and sensitive HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of eight bioactive components and fingerprint analysis of Schisandra sphenanthera

A simple and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography method with photodiode array detection (HPLC-DAD) was developed for simultaneous determination of eight bioactive constituents (schisandrin, schisandrol B, schisantherin A, schisanhenol, anwulignan, deoxyshisandrin, schisandrin B and schisandrin C) in the ripe fruit of Schisandra sphenanthera and its traditional Chinese herbal preparations Wuzhi-capsule by optimizing the extraction, separation and analytical conditions of HPLC-DAD. The chemical fingerprint of S. sphenanthera was established using raw materials of 15 different origins in China. The chromatographic separations were obtained by an Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 reserved-phase column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm) using gradient elution with water-formic acid (100:0.1, v/v) and acetonitrile, at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹, an operating temperature of 35 °C, and a wavelength of 230 nm. The constituents were confirmed by (+) electrospray ionization LC-MS. The new method was validated and was successfully applied to simultaneous determination of components in 13 batches of Wuzhi-capsule. The results indicate that this multi-component determination method in combination with chromatographic fingerprint analysis is suitable for quantitative analysis and quality control of S. sphenanthera.     

Analysis of four alkaloids of Coptis chinensis in rat plasma by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

A sensitive and precise high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-electrochemical detection (ECD) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of four isoquinoline alkaloids including berberine, jatrorrhizine, coptisine and palmatine in Chinese medicine Coptis chinensis. The typical HPLC analysis was performed on WondaSil^® C18-WR column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with the mobile phase comprising 40 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0)–acetonitrile (40:60, v/v) at the flow rate of 0.8 mL min⁻¹. The electrochemical detection employed a three electrode system with a bare glassy carbon electrode at +1.3 V versus the Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The limits of detection (LODs) of four alkaloids ranged from 0.01 to 0.03 μmol L⁻¹ and the LOD of berberine was 80 times lower than LOD obtained by UV detection. The rat plasma samples were assayed after oral administration of the traditional Chinese medicine Coptis chinensis by the proposed HPLC-ECD method. The recoveries of this method were ranging from 88.0 to 116%, with the relative standard deviation lower than 3.1% for intra-day precision and 5.7% for inter-day precision. These results show that HPLC-ECD is a useful tool for the quality control of herbal medicine Coptis chinensis and also for pharmacokinetic studies.     

Dual-color upconversion fluorescence and aptamer-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles-based bioassay for the simultaneous detection of Salmonella Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus

A sensitive luminescent bioassay for the simultaneous detection of Salmonella Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus was developed using aptamer-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for both recognition and concentration elements and using upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) as highly sensitive dual-color labels. The bioassay system was fabricated by immobilizing aptamer 1 and aptamer 2 onto the surface of MNPs, which were employed to capture and concentrate S. Typhimurium and S. aureus. NaY_0.78F₄:Yb_0.2,Tm_0.02 UCNPs modified aptamer 1 and NaY_0.28F₄:Yb_0.70,Er_0.02 UCNPs modified aptamer 2 further were bond onto the captured bacteria surface to form sandwich-type complexes. Under optimal conditions, the correlation between the concentration of S. Typhimurium and the luminescent signal was found to be linear within the range of 10¹–10⁵ cfu mL⁻¹ (R² = 0.9964), and the signal was in the range of 10¹–10⁵ cfu mL⁻¹ (R² = 0.9936) for S. aureus. The limits of detection of the developed method were found to be 5 and 8 cfu mL⁻¹ for S. Typhimurium and S. aureus, respectively. The ability of the bioassay to detect S. Typhimurium and S. aureus in real water samples was also investigated, and the results were compared to the experimental results from the plate-counting methods. Improved by the magnetic separation and concentration effect of MNPs, the high sensitivity of UCNPs, and the different emission lines of Yb/Er- and Yb/Tm-doped NaYF₄ UCNPs excited by a 980 nm laser, the present method performs with both high sensitivity and selectivity for the two different types of bacteria.     

Quantitative analysis of flavonoids and phenolic acids in Arnica montana L. by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

Arnica montana preparations have been used in Europe for centuries to treat skin disorders. Among the biologically active ingredients in the flower heads of the plant are sequiterpenes, flavonoids and phenolic acids. For the simultaneous determination of compounds belonging to the latter two groups a micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) method was developed and validated. By using an electrolyte solution containing 50 mM borax, 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate and 30% of acetonitrile the separation of seven flavonoids and four caffeic acid derivatives was feasible in less than 20 min. The optimized system was validated for repeatability (σ_rel ≤ 4.4%), precision (inter-day σ_rel ≤ 8.13%, intra-day σ_rel ≤ 4.32%), accuracy (recovery rates from 96.8 to 102.4%), sensitivity (limit of detection (LOD) ≤ 4.5 μg mL⁻¹) and linearity (R² ≥ 0.9996), and then successfully applied to assay several plant samples. In all of them the most dominant flavonoid was found to be quercetin 3-O-glucuronic acid, whereas 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid was the major phenolic acid; the total content of flavonoids and phenolic acids varied in the samples from 0.60 to 1.70%, and 1.03 to 2.24%, respectively.     

Bioreduction of methyl o-chlorobenzoylformate at 500 g L without external cofactors for efficient production of enantiopure clopidogrel intermediate

Biocatalytic reduction of methyl o-chlorobenzoylformate (CBFM) provides a green and direct access to methyl (R)-o-chloromandelate [(R)-CMM], an intermediate for a platelet aggregation inhibitor named clopidogrel. As much as 500 g L⁻¹ of CBFM was stoichiometrically converted into enantiopure (R)-CMM at 20 °C by using a whole-cell catalyst coexpressing an aldo-keto reductase from Bacillus sp. and a glucose dehydrogenase (GDH). In addition to the high productivity of 812 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹, this new whole-cell reduction is attractive by eliminating the need of an added external cofactor.     

Titanium (IV) complexes based on substituted 2-[(2-hydroxyethyl)]aminophenols

Novel substituted 2-[(2-hydroxyethyl)]aminophenols, MeN(CHR¹CR²R³OH)(C₆H₄-o-OH) (2-5), were synthesized by the reaction of 2-methylaminophenol with corresponding oxiranes. Titano-spiro-bis(ocanes) [MeN(CHR¹CR²R³O)(C₆H₄-o-O)]₂Ti 6-9 (2, 6, R¹ = H, R² = R³ = Me; 3, 7, R¹ = R² = Ph (treo-), R³ = H; 4, 8, R¹ = Ph, R² = R³ = H; 5, 9, R¹ = R² = H, R³ = Ph) based on [ONO]-ligands have been synthesized. The obtained compounds were characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis data. The complex [Ti(μ²-O){O-o-C₆H₄}{μ²-CMe₂CH₂}NMe]₆ (10) was obtained by controlled hydrolysis of 6. Molecular structure of 10 was determined by X-ray structure analysis.     

Determination of quinolizidine alkaloids in Sophora medicinal plants by capillary electrophoresis

A new capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the determination of quinolizidine alkaloids in Sophora medicinal plants was developed. A total of seven alkaloid components (cytisine, sophocarpine, matrine, lehmannine, sophoranol, oxymatrine and oxysophocarpine) were separated within 15 min. The running buffer was a 50 mM phosphate buffer containing 1%HP-β-CD and 3.3% isopropanol. The linear calibration ranges were 5.50-88.0 μg ml⁻¹ for cytisine and lehmannine, 5.00-88.0 μg ml⁻¹ for sophocarpine and sophoranol, 5.60-89.6 μg ml⁻¹ for matrine and oxysophocarpine, and 24.0-384 μg ml⁻¹ for oxymatrine. The recoveries of the seven alkaloids were 96.0-102.9% with relative standard deviations from 1.50 to 3.00% (n = 5). The method was successfully applied to different Sophora medicinal plants including Sophora flavescens, Sophora tonkinensis and Sophora alopecuroides.     

Determination of methanol in o,o-dimethyldithiophosphoric acid (DMDTPA) of technical grade by UV/vis spectrophotometry and by HPLC

Two procedures are proposed in this work for the determination of methanol impurities in o,o-dimethyldithiophosphoric acid (DMDTPA). To avoid possible interferences from the main component, DMDTPA was precipitated in the form of insoluble lead complex. Free Pb(II) ions were eliminated with sulfuric acid and methanol was oxidized to formaldehyde with potassium permanganate in methanesulfonic acid medium. Finally, the excess of oxidizing agent was neutralized with saturated sodium oxalate. The above pretreatment procedure was identical for spectrophotometric assay and for chromatographic determination. In the first case, the solution obtained was treated with Nash reagent to form 3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine (λ_max = 415 nm). In the calibration range 0.1-1.0% (methanol in DMDTPA), the analytical figures of merit were: R² = 0.9993, quantification limit 0.02% methanol in DMDTPA coefficient of variance (n = 5) for 0.1% and 0.4% methanol respectively 6.7% and 2.4%. Recoveries obtained in the sample fortified with 0.1, 0.2, 0.4% of methanol (in DMDTPA) were in the range 99-105%. For chromatographic procedure, formaldehyde was derivatized with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine and separation was achieved on Luna C18(2) column using the isocratic elution with acetonitrile-water (70:30, v/v) and spectrophotometric detection at 360 nm. In the calibration range 0.05-0.25% (methanol in DMDTPA), R² was always higher than 0.999, the quantification limit was 0.004% and the recoveries in these same fortified samples in the range 98-101%. No statistically significant differences were observed between the results obtained in the analysis of technical grade DMDTPA by the two procedures (ANOVA, p < 0.05)     

Feasibility study on qualitative and quantitative analysis in tea by near infrared spectroscopy with multivariate calibration

This study attempted the feasibility to use near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a rapid analysis method to qualitative and quantitative assessment of the tea quality. NIR spectroscopy with soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) method was proposed to identify rapidly tea varieties in this paper. In the experiment, four tea varieties from Longjing, Biluochun, Qihong and Tieguanyin were studied. The better results were achieved following as: the identification rate equals to 90% only for Longjing in training set; 80% only for Biluochun in test set; while, the remaining equal to 100%. A partial least squares (PLS) algorithm is used to predict the content of caffeine and total polyphenols in tea. The models are calibrated by cross-validation and the best number of PLS factors was achieved according to the lowest root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV). The correlation coefficients and the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) in the test set were used as the evaluation parameters for the models as follows: R = 0.9688, RMSEP = 0.0836% for the caffeine; R = 0.9299, RMSEP = 1.1138% for total polyphenols. The overall results demonstrate that NIR spectroscopy with multivariate calibration could be successfully applied as a rapid method not only to identify the tea varieties but also to determine simultaneously some chemical compositions contents in tea.