Determination of oleanolic and ursolic acid in Chinese herbs using HPLC and γ-CD as mobile phase modifier

To separate and determine oleanolic acid and ursolic acid, a rapid and accurate HPLC using γ‐CD as the mobile phase additive was developed. The effect of CD nature and concentration, and the acidity of the mobile phase on the chromatographic behavior of two bioactive triterpenes were systematically studied. Two bioactive triterpenes were completely separated (R = 3.11) on a Kromasil^® C₁₈ column (150×4.6 mm id, 5 μm) with the mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/0.1% phosphoric acid with 2 mM γ‐CD as the mobile phase modifier (60:40, v/v). The flow rate was set at 1.0 mL/min and the eluent was detected at 210 nm for two bioactive triterpenes. The linearity of the method was excellent (r=0.9999) over the studied range of 6–300 μg/mL for oleanolic acid, and 12–600 μg/mL for ursolic acid. The LOD and LOQ were 1.5 and 5.0, 1.0 and 3.0 μg/mL for oleanolic acid and ursolic acid, respectively. The optimized method was successfully applied to separate and determine two bioactive triterpenes in five Chinese herbs. It is concluded that this method could be used for rapid and accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of the two bioactive triterpenes in Chinese herbs.     

Isolation and purification of inflacoumarin A and licochalcone A from licorice by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) technique in semi-preparative scale has been applied to isolate and purify bioactive flavone compounds from the ethanol extract of Glycyrrhiza inflata Bat., a particular plant species of licorice. HSCCC separation was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-chloroform-methanol-water (5:6:3:2, v/v) by eluting the lower mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.8 ml/min and a revolution speed of 800 rpm. Purification was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-chloroform-methanol-water (1.5:6:3:2, v/v) by eluting the lower mobile phase at a flow-rate of 1.5 ml/min and a revolution speed of 800 rpm. Two major flavone peaks: inflacoumarin A and licochalcone A were collected and the respective yields of the peaks amount to 6 mg (8.6%, w/w) and 8 mg (11.4%, w/w) from 70 mg of the crude extract sample. The purities of inflacoumarin A and licochalcone A reached 99.6% and 99.1%, respectively, after a sequential purification run. The structures of inflacoumarin A and licochalcone A were positively confirmed by 1H NMR and 13C NMR, 1H-13C-COSY, UV, FT-IR and electron ionization MS analyses.     

Isolation of Anti-HIV Components from Canarium album Fruits by High-Speed Counter-Current Chromatography

The fruit of Canarium album, also called Chinese olive, is a popular food and traditional Chinese herb. The ethyl acetate extract of Canarium album fruits was found to exhibit an inhibitory effect on six-helix bundle formation of the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) glycoprotein transmembrane subunit gp41 in our previous study. In this paper, a preparative separation of anti-HIV components from an ethyl acetate extract of Canarium album fruits was performed by high-speed counter-current chromatography, using a solvent system of n-hexane–ethyl acetate–ethanol–0.5% acetic acid aqueous (0.5:9.5:2:8, v/v/v/v). Among the six fractions obtained from a single separation process, three exhibited over 90% purity as determined by HPLC, two compounds were identified as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid, and four fractions displayed significant inhibitory effects on HIV-1 IIIB infection. These findings suggest that the high-speed counter-current chromatography is an effective and reliable technique for separating bioactive components from medicinal herbs. Further identification of the active compounds in Canarium album fruits and studying their mechanism of action are warranted.     

Comparison of two sample preconcentration strategies for the sensitivity enhancement of flavonoids found in Chinese herbal medicine in micellar electrokinetic chromatography with UV detection

Two on-column preconcentration techniques named stacking with reverse migrating micelles (SRMM) and anion selective electrokinetic injection and a water plug-sweeping with reverse migrating micelles (ASIW-sweep-RMM) were used and compared for concentration and separation of flavonoids in Chinese herbs using reverse migration micellar electrokinetic chromatography (RM-MEKC). The optimal background electrolyte (BGE) used for separation and preconcentration was a solution composed of 20mM phosphoric acid (H(3)PO(4))-100mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-20% (v/v) acetonitrile (ACN) buffer (pH 2.0), the applied voltage was -15kV. To achieve reasonable results of the two techniques, the conditions which affected preconcentration were examined. A comparison of used techniques with normal hydrodynamic injection (5s), concerning enhancement factors and limits of detection (LODs) was presented. Under the optimum stacking conditions, about 27-37- and 45-194-fold improvement in the detection sensitivity was obtained for SRMM and ASIW-sweep-RMM, respectively, compared to usual hydrodynamic sample injection (5s). The LODs (S/N=3) for SRMM and ASIW-sweep-RMM in terms of peak height, can reach down to 1.15 x 10(-2) microg/ml for hesperetin and 2.4 x 10(-3) microg/ml for nobiletin, respectively. Finally, the amounts of the six flavonoids in extract of Fructus aurantii Immaturus were successfully determined using ASIW-sweep-RMM. The six analytes were baseline separated with sample matrix under the optimum ASIW-sweep-RMM conditions and the experimental results showed that preconcentration was well achieved after the dilution of sample solutions.     

Separation and determination of flavone and xanthone glycosides in Tibetan folk medicinal species Swertia mussotii and S. franchetiana by capillary electrophoresis

The contents of five pharmacologically active flavone and xanthone glycosides, namely, swertianolin, swertisin, isoorientin, mangiferin, and 7-O-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-D-xylopyranosyl]-1,8-dihydroxy-3-methoxyxanthone, extracted from Tibetan folk medicinal species Swertia mussotii and S. franchetiana were determined by capillary electrophoresis with diode-array detection. The separation of five components has been optimized with a capillary column with a total length of 48.5 cm and effective length of 40 cm (50 μm i.d). The influence of the running buffer, the sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) concentration, organic modifier, etc. on the resolution was evaluated. The background electrolyte contained 30 mM borate buffer, 28 mM SDS, 1.0% (v/v) acetonitrile, and was adjusted to pH 9.0 with 0.1 M NaOH. A good baseline resolution was obtained for the separation of five components within 5 min with the working voltage of 24 kV and a column temperature of 25°C. The established method was rapid and reproducible for the separation and determination of five flavone and xanthone glycosides from the extracts of S. mussotii and franchetiana plant samples. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Investigation of folic acid stability in fortified instant noodles by use of capillary electrophoresis and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography

A single enzyme treatment with alpha-amylase, prior to the quantification of added folic acid (FA) in fortified instant fried Asian noodles with analysis performed by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with UV detection, is described. The method was validated and optimized for capillary electrophoresis (CE) with separation achieved using a 8 mM phosphate-12 mM borate run buffer with 5% MeOH at pH 9.5. FA was well separated from matrix components with nicotinic acid (NA) employed as an internal standard. In a comparative study, separation of FA was performed using HPLC with a mobile phase consisting of 27% MeOH (v/v) in aqueous potassium phosphate buffer (3.5 mM KH(2)PO(4) and 3.2 mM K(2)HPO(4)), pH 8.5, and containing 5 mM tetrabutylammonium dihydrogen phosphate as an ion-pairing agent. For both methods, excellent results were obtained for various analytical parameters including linearity, accuracy and precision. The limit of detection was calculated to be 2.2 mg/L for CE without sample stacking and 0.10 mg/L with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Sample extraction involved homogenization and enzymatic extraction with alpha-amylase. Results indicated that FA was stable during four main stages of instant fried noodle manufacturing (dough crumbs, cut sheets, steaming and frying).     

Use of liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry for identification of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid in Anoectochilus roxburghii (wall.) Lindl

Oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) are the two important bioactive compounds in Anoectochilus roxburghii (wall) Lindl (A. roxburghii), which has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine. So far, there has been no report to indicate that A. roxburghii contains these two bioactive compounds. It is necessary to develop an effective method to extract and analyze OA and UA in A. roxburghii. In this paper, a quantitative method, consisting of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) followed by liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry (LC-APCI-IT-MS) analysis, was developed for identification of OA and UA in A. roxburghii. The extraction was carried out by using CO(2) as the supercritical fluid and ethanol as the modifier before LC separation. The mobile phase used for LC separation consisted of acetic acid (1%, v/v), water (15%, v/v) and methanol (84%, v/v), and the elution was performed at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min. The mass spectrometer was operated in APCI(+) mode with selected ion monitoring (SIM) to quantify OA and UA at m/z 439.4. Under optimum conditions, the linear responses of OA and UA were obtained in the concentration range of 0.5-80 (r = 0.9992) and 0.5-50 microg/ml (r = 0.9989) with the detection limits of 0.125 and 0.085 microg/ml, respectively. The proposed method has been used for the identification and quantitation of OA and UA in a real A. roxburghii sample.     

Analysis of colistin sulfate by capillary zone electrophoresis with cyclodextrins as additive

A method for the quantitative analysis of colistin sulfate by capillary zone electrophoresis is described. Since colistin components have five free amino groups, they tend to adsorb onto the capillary wall and cause peak tailing. It was found that triethanolamine (TEA)-phosphate buffer at pH 2.5 was useful to reduce such adsorption. Methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (M-beta-CD) and 2-propanol (IPA) were found necessary for selectivity enhancement. In order to optimize the separation parameters and predict the method robustness, a central composite design was performed including three variables, namely concentration of M-beta-CD, TEA, and IPA. The effects of capillary length and applied voltage on separation were also investigated. The optimal conditions established were: 140 mM TEA-phosphate buffer containing 5 mM M-beta-CD and 6% v/v IPA, a capillary with 55 cm total length (50 microm inner diameter, 47 cm from inlet to detection window) and 24 kV applied voltage. The method was found to be robust when the variables were changed in the following range: 4-6 mM M-beta-CD, 5-7% v/v IPA, and 130-150 mM TEA. Further, the linearity, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantitation (LOQ), as well as repeatability for both colistin A and B were examined and three commercial samples were quantitatively analyzed.     

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of active flavonoids in Flos Lonicerae by capillary zone electrophoresis coupled with solid-phase extraction

Flavonoids are an important bioactive group in the commonly used herbal medicine Flos Lonicerae. A new method of capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) coupled with solid-phase extraction (SPE) was developed for simultaneous assay of flavonoid aglycones and glycosides in Flos Lonicerae. Optimum CZE separation was achieved with a background electrolyte (BGE) solution consisting of 80 mM boric acid and 20 mM phosphate acid, adjusted to pH 8.1, with 15% acetonitrile (v/v) added, and applying a separation voltage of 28 kV. The SPE method was used for pretreating the complex matrix of botanical materials and good reproducibility was obtained when avicularin was used as internal standard. Linearity of the method was excellent with correlation coefficients (r2) in the range of 0.9995-0.9999 and detection limits were lower than 0.6 microg/mL for the four flavonoids. The obtained recoveries varied between 93 to 104% while the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were below 4.4% (n=3). The developed CZE method was successfully used for the separation of eight flavonoids and the quantification of the four flavonoids in five species of Flos Lonicerae.     

Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of PHY906, a Chinese medicine formulation for cancer therapy

PHY906 is a Chinese medicine formulation prepared from four medicinal herbs for adjuvant cancer chemotherapy. In this paper, liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-TOFMS) was used to clarify the chemical composition of PHY906. The aqueous extract of PHY906 was separated on a Waters Atlantis C(18) column, and was eluted with acetonitrile/0.05% (v/v) formic acid. The separated compounds were identified with pure standards, or tentatively characterized by analyzing their mass spectra recorded in both negative and positive ion polarity modes. Further structural information was obtained from in-source fragmentation. Based on the LC/MS analysis, we proposed the structures for 64 bioactive compounds, including flavonoids, triterpene saponins, and monoterpene glycosides. All the compounds identified from PHY906 were further assigned in the four individual herbs, and some of them are reported for the first time.     

Utility of nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis for the determination of lidocaine and its metabolites in human plasma: a comparison of ultraviolet and mass spectrometric detection

A nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis/electrospray mass spectrometry method for the separation of lidocaine (LID) and two of its metabolites, monoethylglycinexylidide (MEGX) and glycinexylidide (GX), has been developed. The separation medium was: 70 mM ammonium formate and 2.0 M formic acid in acetonitrile/methanol (60:40 v/v). With a sheath liquid of methanol/water (80:20 v/v) containing 2% formic acid and positive ion detection, reproducible determinations (8-11% relative standard deviation (RSD)) of lidocaine and its metabolites were performed in spiked human plasma. The limits of detection (LODs) were between 69.1 and 337 nM. The influences of sheath liquid composition, nebulizing gas pressure and drying gas temperature on the separation were examined.     

Preparative separation of flavone dimers from Dysosma versipellis by counter‐current chromatography: Trifluoroacetic acid as a solvent system modifier

The separation of natural products is grueling and time‐consuming work with repeated isolations needed to obtain purified compounds. However, using counter‐current chromatography, a unique liquid–liquid partition chromatography, constituents can usually be purified efficiently. During the separation of flavone dimers from Dysosma versipellis (Hance) by counter‐current chromatography, the separation resolution and sample loading was impeded by the emulsification of the sample. By screening, trifluoroacetic acid was selected as the solvent modifier to eliminate the emulsification. Then, a quaternary solvent system of hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (4:6:5:5 v/v/v/v) with trifluoroacetic acid at a low concentration of 0.5% v/v was used to purify the components from D. versipellis. Compared to that without trifluoroacetic acid, the separation resolution as well as the sample loading both increased greatly. In addition, flavone dimers in low concentrations could be enriched and purified at high sample loading. As a result, five podophyllotoxins and 11 flavonoids were purified and characterized by interpretation of spectroscopic data, in which two of eight flavone dimers were new and a known flavone dimer was first separated from this species.     

LC/MS guided isolation of alkaloids from lotus leaves by pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography

The traditional methods used in natural product separation primarily target the major components and the minor components may thus be lost during the separation procedure. Consequently, it's necessary to develop efficient methods for the preparative separation and purification of relatively minor bioactive components. In this paper, a LC/MS method was applied to guide the separation of crude extract of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) leaves whereby a minor component was identified in the LC/MS analysis. Afterwards, an optimized pH-zone-refining CCC method was performed to isolate this product, identified as N-demethylarmepavine. The separation procedure was carried out with a biphasic solvent system composed of hexane-ethyl acetate-methyl alcohol-water (1:6:1:6, v/v) with triethylamine (10 mM) added to the upper organic phase as a retainer and hydrochloric acid (5 mM) to the aqueous mobile phase eluent. Two structurally similar compounds--nuciferine and roemerine--were also obtained from the crude lotus leaves extract. In total 500 mg of crude extract furnished 7.4 mg of N-demethylarmepavine, 45.3 mg of nuciferine and 26.6 mg of roemerine with purities of 90%, 92% and 96%, respectively. Their structures were further identified by HPLC/ESI-MSn, FTICR/MS and the comparison with reference compounds.     

Rapid screening method for intact glucosinolates in Chinese medicinal herbs by using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry in negative ion mode

An optimized method using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-ITMS) in negative ion mode has been developed for screening different structural classes of intact glucosinolates in six Chinese medicinal herbs. The glucosinolates were extracted with hot methanol/water (70:30 v/v) and separation of the individual glucosinolates was achieved using a reversed-phase C18 column with an aqueous ammonium acetate/methanol gradient. Identification of the intact glucosinolates was based on the detection of compounds with a constant neutral loss of 242 Da corresponding to the combined loss of anhydroglucose (162 Da) and sulfur trioxide (80 Da) in collision-induced dissociation. The structures of the identified glucosinolates were confirmed with the use of group-specific product ions at m/z 195, 241, 259, 275 in their corresponding MS/MS product ion spectra. Differentiation of intact glucosinolates was achieved through their respective retention times and molecular masses as well as the characteristic product ions. The limits of detection were at the low nanogram level per injection, based on constant neutral loss scans. Significant variation in the compositions of intact glucosinolates was identified in the cruciferous herbs. This method was applied in the differentiation and quality control of two pairs of easily confused herbs. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of alkylphosphonic acids using micellar electrokinetic chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence detection and high-salt stacking

Methyl-, ethyl- and propylphosphonic acids (MPA, EPA, and PPA, respectively) were derivatized with panacyl bromide in dry N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). After mixing with a high-salt dilution buffer, the derivatives were separated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography in 35 min and detected by laser-induced fluorescence (He-Cd laser excitation at 325 nm and detection at 500 nm). Baseline resolution was achieved using a separation buffer containing 50 mM sodium cholate, 40% (v/v) of acetonitrile and 50 mM borate. Addition of 400 mM NaCl to the dilution buffer allowed the injection time to be increased to 30 s while still maintaining baseline resolution. Limits of detection for MPA, EPA, and PPA were 0.13 microM (12 ppb), 0.13 microM (14 ppb) and 0.14 microM (17 ppb) injected, respectively. The reproducibility of corrected peak area at 15 microM was 3.7 approximately 4.3%.     

Determination of histamine and histidine by capillary zone electrophoresis with pre-column naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde derivatization and fluorescence detection

A rapid and sensitive method was developed for the simultaneous determination of histamine and histidine by capillary zone electrophoresis with lamp-induced fluorescence detection. A fluoregenic derivatization reagent, naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde (NDA) was successfully applied to label the histamine and histidine respectively. The derivatization conditions and separation parameters including pH and concentration of electrolyte and sample injection were optimized in detail. The optimal derivatization reaction was performed with 1.0 mM NDA, 20 mM NaCN, and 20 mM borate buffer, pH 9.1 for 15 min. The separation of NDA-tagged histamine and histidine could be achieved in less than 200 s with 40 mM phosphate buffer (pH 5.8) as the running buffer. The detection limits for histamine and histidine were 5.5 x 10(-9) and 3.8 x 10(-9) M, respectively (S/N = 3). The relative standard derivations for migration time and peak height of derivatives were less than 1.5 and 5.0%, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of histamine and histidine in the P815 mastocytoma cells and the beer samples.     

Application of capillary electrophoresis for organic acid analysis in herbal studies

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) procedure has been developed for the separation of 25 inorganic and organic acid anions using a buffer system consisting of 15 mM tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane, 3 mM 1,2,4-benzenetricarboxylic acid, 1.5 mM tetraethylenepentaamine (TEPA) and 20% methanol with pH adjusted to 8.4. A good separation of organic acids extracted from a mixture of Chinese traditional medicine (TCM) containing three herbs, Flos chrysthemi, Spica prunellae, and Folium mori was obtained using the procedure developed with satisfactory working range (0.20-77 mg/g), low detection limit (90-190 microg/g), and good repeatability (relative standard deviation 4.47-6.99%, n = 4). A satisfactory extraction of organic acids was achieved within 20 min using 0.1 M NaOH. The addition of TEPA to provide a reduced electroosmotic flow (EOF) environment was shown to remove interfering organic compounds extracted from TCM. The applicability of using organic acids as markers for determining the mixing ratio of constituent herbs for a TCM mixture was investigated using a three-component mixture with a 1:1:1 mixing ratio. A satisfactory mixing ratio of 1.04:1.09:0.98 was obtained using the methodology developed based on organic acids as markers. The application of our method for determining more complicated TCM mixtures has been discussed.     

Microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence detection for sensitive determination of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine

A selective and sensitive microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography with laser-induced fluorescence detection method was developed for the quantification of ephedrine (E) and pseudoephedrine (PE) derivatized with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1, 3-diazol. By a series of optimization, a running buffer composed of 20 mM borate + microemulsion (23.3 mM Sodium dodecyl sulfate/180.85 mM 1-butanol/16.4 mM n-heptane) +8% acetonitrile was applied for the separation of the derivatives. A linear relationship for E and PE was obtained in the range of 0.058-11.58 microg.mL(-1) (correlation coefficient: 0.9993 for E, 0.9995 for PE), and the detection limits for E and PE were 5.3 and 3.9 ng.mL(-1). The method was applied to the analysis of the two alkaloids in Chinese traditional herbal preparations with recoveries in the range of 96.9-105.4%.     

Simultaneous determination of bioactive flavone derivatives in Chinese herb extraction by capillary electrophoresis used different electrolyte systems--borate and ionic liquids

In this paper, novel capillary electrophoresis (CE) methods, which used ionic liquids (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazoium tetrafluoroborate, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazoium tetrafluoroborate), were established to separate and determine some bioactive flavone derivatives in Chinese herb Seriphidium santolinum (Schrenk) Poljak. In order to investigate the traits of ionic liquids in CE, borate was also used as electrolyte to compare with. And the excellence of CE, which used ionic liquids as main running electrolyte and beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) as modifier, was illuminated as well. As a result of the study, the difference of ionic liquids and borate in CE was discussed and the advantage of CE, which used ionic liquids as electrolytes for separation, was shown. The analysis was obtained within short time (5-6 min). From the result, it was found that the system, which used ionic liquids, was robust because the joule heating was small. The method of CE, which used ionic liquids, has lower detection limits (0.137-0.642 microg/mL) than that of borate (0.762-1.036 microg/mL). And the CE, which used ionic liquids method, has lower limit of linear range (1.100-2.656 microg/mL), while that of CE, which used borate method, was 2.188-5.313 microg/mL.     

Simultaneous Separation and Determination of Benzoic Acid Compounds in the Plant Medicine by High Performance Capillary Electrophoresis

A simple and inexpensive high performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) was applied to separate five benzoic acid compounds simultaneously. The investigation was carried out by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC). To avoid a time‐consuming and tedious procedure, orthogonal experimental design OA₉ (3⁴) for separation experiments was applied to find the optimal conditions in terms of the resolution and analytical time. The best conditions for separation were obtained using a 20 mM borax and 30 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) buffer (pH 9.8) containing 2 mM β‐CD and 4% methanol (v/v). Online UV detection was performed at 250 nm. A voltage of 16 kV was applied and the temperature was controlled at 25 °C. Injection was performed for 5 s. The method was validated for the quantification of benzoic acid, salicylic acid and ortho‐aminobenzoic acid in Radix Isatidis, a traditional plant medicine with removal of endotoxin. The separation and determination were satisfactory and quick.