Isolation of Flavonoids From Wild Aquilaria sinensis Leaves by an Improved Preparative High-Speed Counter-Current Chromatography Apparatus

• Published in: Journal of chromatographic science Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 18 - 24
• Main Authors: Yang, Mao-Xun, Liang, Yao-Guang, Chen, He-Ru, Huang, Yong-Fang, Gong, Hai-Guang, Zhang, Tian-You, Ito, Yoichiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents - analysis; Antineoplastic Agents - chemistry; Antineoplastic Agents - isolation & purification; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Cell Survival - drug effects; Countercurrent Distribution - methods; Flavonoids - analysis; Flavonoids - chemistry; Flavonoids - isolation & purification; Flavonoids - pharmacology; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Plant Leaves - chemistry; Thymelaeaceae - chemistry
• ISSN: 0021-9665; 1945-239X
• DOI: 10.1093/chromsci/bmx076

Abstract Four flavonoids including apigenin-7,4′-dimethylether, genkwanin, quercetin, and kaempferol were isolated in a preparative or semi-preparative scale from the leaves of wild Aquilaria sinensis using an improved preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography apparatus. The separations were performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of hexane-ethyl acetate, methanol-water at suitable volume ratios. The obtained fractions were analyzed by HPLC, and the identification of each target compound was carried out by ESI-MS and NMR. The yields of the above four target flavonoids were 4.7, 10.0, 11.0 and 4.4%, respectively. All these four flavonoids exhibited nitrite scavenging activities with the clearance rate of 12.40 ± 0.20%, 5.84 ± 0.03%, 28.10 ± 0.17% and 5.19 ± 0.11%, respectively. Quercetin was originally isolated from the Thymelaeaceae family, while kaempferol was isolated from the Aquilaria genus for the first time. In cytotoxicity test these two flavonoids exhibited moderate inhibitory activities against HepG2 cells with the IC50 values of 12.54 ± 1.37 and 38.63 ± 4.05 μM, respectively.