New and highly efficient column chromatographic extraction and simple purification of camptothecin from Camptotheca acuminata and Nothapodytes pittosporoides.

INTRODUCTION: Camptothecin, a widely used natural anti-cancer drug, is difficult to extract and purify effectively from plants. OBJECTIVE: To develop new and highly efficient extraction and purification methods for analysis and production of camptothecin from leaves and fruits of Camptotheca acuminata and Nothapodytes pittosporoides roots. METHODS: Dried materials were loaded in empty columns with fivefold 60% ethanol for leaves or 70% ethanol for fruits of C. acumnata, and sixfold 70% ethanol for N. pittosporoides roots. The columns were eluted with the same solvents at room temperature. Eluent was collected as extraction solution. Extraction solution from leaves and fruits of C. acuminata was vacuum-evaporated to remove ethanol, precipitated at pH 8.0 to remove alkaline insolubles and fractionated with chloroform at pH 3.0, which yields a crude product with 70% purity. Extraction solution from N. pittosporoides roots was concentrated to 1/10 volume and precipitated at pH 3.0, which yields a crude product with 60% purity. All crude products were purified by crystallisation. All steps were monitored by HPLC. RESULTS: Camptothecin was extracted from the three plant materials at a 98% rate with 15- or 18-fold solvent for content analysis, or at a 97% rate with five- or sixfold solvent for production. All crude products were purified to 98%. The overall recovery rates of camptothecin from plant materials to purified products reached 92% or higher. CONCLUSION: The new procedures are simple and highly efficient, and have multiple advantages for quantitative analysis and large production of camptothecin from plants.

Simultaneous column chromatographic extraction and purification of abscisic acid in peanut plants for direct HPLC analysis.

Abscisic acid (ABA), a universal signaling molecule, plays important roles in regulating plant growth, development and stress responses. The low contents and complex components in plants make it difficult to be accurately analyzed. A novel one-step sample preparation method for ABA in plants was developed. Fresh peanut (Arachis hypogaea) plant materials were fixed by oven-drying, microwave drying, boiling or Carnoy's fixative, and loaded onto a mini-preparing column. After washed the impurities, ABA was eluted with a small amount of solvent. ABA in plant materials was completely extracted and purified in 2mL solution and directly analyzed by HPLC, with a 99.3% recovery rate. Multiple samples can be simultaneously prepared. Analyses using this method indicated that the endogenous ABA in oven-dried peanut leaves increased 20.2-fold from 1.01 to 20.37µgg(-1) dry weight within 12h and then decreased in 30% polyethylene glycol 6000 treated plants, and increased 3.34-fold from 0.85 to 2.84µgg(-1) dry weight in 5 days and then decreased in soil drought treated plants. The method combined the column chromatographic extraction and solid-phase separation technologies in one step and can completely extracted plant endogenous ABA in a purified and highly concentrated form for direct HPLC analysis.

One-step column chromatographic extraction with gradient elution followed by automatic separation of volatiles, flavonoids and polysaccharides from Citrus grandis.

Citrus grandis Tomentosa is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and health foods. Its functional components include volatiles, flavonoids and polysaccharides which cannot be effectively extracted through traditional methods. A column chromatographic extraction with gradient elution was developed for one-step extraction of all bioactive substances from C. grandis. Dried material was loaded into a column with petroleum ether: ethanol (8:2, PE) and sequentially eluted with 2-fold PE, 3-fold ethanol: water (6:4) and 8-fold water. The elutes was separated into an ether fraction containing volatiles and an ethanol-water fraction containing flavonoids and polysaccharides. The later was separated into flavonoids and polysaccharides by 80% ethanol precipitation of polysaccharides. Through this procedure, volatiles, flavonoids and polysaccharides in C. grandis were simultaneously extracted at 98% extraction rates and simply separated at higher than 95% recovery rates. The method provides a simple and high-efficient extraction and separation of wide range bioactive substances.