Simple Preparative Isolation of Salvinorin A from the Hallucinogenic Sage, Salvia divinorum, by Centrifugal Partition Chromatography

Abstract

A simple procedure was developed to isolate salvinorin A from the hallucinogenic sage, Salvia divinorum, by means of centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) using n‐hexane–dichloromethane–methanol–water (8:8:9:2, v/v) as a two‐phase solvent system. The upper phase (organic phase) of the two‐phase solvent system was used as the stationary phase for CPC separation. About 100 mg of salvinorin A was obtained from ca. 2.5 g of crude methanol extract by CPC, followed by purification in a silica gel short column (n‐hexane–ethyl acetate=1:1, v/v) and recrystallization from methanol. The product was more than 98% pure as determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Keywords:

• Centrifugal partition chromatography
• CPC
• Salvinorin A
• Salvia divinorum
• Hallucinogenic sage
• Neo‐clerodane diterpene

Acknowledgments

This work was supported, in part, by research grants from Research on Regulatory Science of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, H16‐iyaku‐060 (to O.S.) and H16‐iyaku‐030 (to S.S.), of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan.