Separation of five bioactive compounds from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch using a general three-liquid-phase flotation followed by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography

ABSTRACT

Glycyrrhiza uralensis

Fisch is homologous medicine for food plant and health-protective affection in the human body system. To further understand the functions of G. uralensis Fisch, separation of the bioactive compounds from this natural product is very important. A general three-liquid-phase flotation (TLPF) technique was established to separate and concentrate five bioactive compounds from G. uralensis Fisch. The three-liquid-phase system, pH of initial aqueous phase, (NH₄)₂SO₄ concentration, nitrogen flow rate, and flotation time were investigated. The flotation efficiency of liquiritin apioside, liquiritin, and glycyrrhizic acid in the middle phase and semilicoisoflavone B and licoisoflavone B in the upper phase could reach 91.24%, 94.23%, 88.04%, 94.67%, and 96.44%, respectively. Furthermore, the established TLPF was used for separation of four kinds of anthraquinones from Cassiae Semen. The results showed that TLPF is feasible for separating the compounds with quite a different polarity from natural products.

Abbreviations

TLPF: Three-liquid-phase flotation; TLPS: Three-liquid-phase system; prep-HPLC: Preparative high-performance liquid chromatography; TLPE: Three-liquid-phase extraction; ATPF: Aqueous two-phase flotation.

KEYWORDS:

• Three-liquid-phase flotation
• preparative high-performance liquid chromatography
• Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch
• Cassiae Semen

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFF0207800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant No. 81671411), SINOPEC Research and Development Program (Grant No. 217015-6), Special Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Public Scientific Research Institutes (Grant No. 562019Y-6671), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XK1802-6).