PREPARATIVE ISOLATION AND PURIFICATION OF ALKALOIDS FROM PICRASMA QUASSIODES (D. DON) BENN. BY HIGH-SPEED COUNTERCURRENT CHROMATOGRAPHY

Abstract

By using a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (2:2:2:2, v/v/v/v), a high-speed counter-current chromatography technique was successfully used for isolation and purification of three alkaloids from Picrasma quassiodes (D. Don) Benn. for the first time. A total of 22.1 mg of 3-methylcanthin-2,6-dione, 4.9 mg of 4-methoxy-5-hydroxycanthin-6-one and 1.2 mg of 1-methoxycarbonyl-β-carboline were obtained from 100 mg of crude extract of Picrasma quassiodes (D. Don) Benn. in less than 5 hr, with purities of 89.30%, 98.32%, and 98.19%, respectively. The target compounds were identified by ESI-MS, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR.

Keywords:

• alkaloids
• high-speed countercurrent chromatography
• Picrasma quassiodes
• 1-methoxycarbonyl-β-carboline
• 3-methylcanthin-2,6-dione
• 4-methoxy-5-hydroxycanthin-6-one

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors thank Prof. Zhongfu Wang of the Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in western China for assistance in ESI-MS experiments. Financial support from Northwest University Graduate Innovation and Creativity Funds of the People's Republic of China (10YZZ34) is gratefully acknowledged.