Elongated Nutmeg Chemical Composition And Processing Technology

Purpose:Nutmeg is embodied by Chinese Pharmacopoeia <2005>.Now the market has two varieties of nutmeg,one is Mystica fragrans Houtt.,the other is Mystica argentea Warb.In Indonesia,Mystica fragrans Houtt.is used for spices and Mystica argentea Warb is used for medicine.While in China,it is different.So our laboratory carried out comprehensive study, include comparative study of chemical composition and pharmacology of M.argentea Warb and M.fragrans Houtt.,then establish optimum processing technology and quality standard.Material and method.1.Material:Mystica argentea Warb.and Mystica fragrans Houtt was purchased from Bozhou Chinese Medicine Market,Anhui Province.A voucher specimen was deposited at our laboratory.2.method:(1)Though HPLC,TLC,GC-MS and ICP-MS methods,we compared the chemical compositions of M.argentea and M.fragrans.We applied silica-gel,sephadex LH-20, preparative TLC and recrystallization to separate and isolate the chemical compounds from M. argentea.(2) The content of methyleugenol,methylisoeugenol,and safrol in volatile oil of M. argentea,M.fragrans and their different processed products were determined by HPLC.And the optimum processing technology was obtained using orthogonal design.(3)Through acute toxicity experiment,we obtaind the spastics of LD₅₀ by koushi.Via carbon powder drive experiment in small intestine of rats,we compared the anti-diarrheal action of Nutmeg and its different processed products.(4) We established quality standard of M.argentea and its processed products,include moisture content,heavy metal limit examine,arsenic salt examine and ani-malcule limit examine of ten batch magnifying processing samples.Results:1.Comparative study of chemical compositions of Mystica argentea Warb.and Mystica fragrans Houtt.Through HPLC analysis,we observed that the chemical compositions had no significant difference between them,but the content of main chemical constituents had remarkable difference.So we isolated the chemical conctituents of Mystica argentea Warb.for further study,and 12 compounds were elucidated.Via UV,IR,NMR and MS,these compounds were identified as safrol(Ⅰ), methyleugenol(Ⅱ),methylisoeugenol(Ⅲ),(E)-3-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)prop-2-en-1-ol (1),7-hydroxy-3′,4′-methylene-flavan(2),1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid dimethyl ester(3), erythro-1,4-di(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2,3-dimethylbutane(4),erythro-1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-4-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2,3-dimethylbutane(5),rel-1-(3-methoxy -4-hydroxylbenzyl)-2-(4-allyl-2-methoxyphenoxies)-propane-1-ol(6),(7S,7′R,8S,8′R) -7,7′-Di-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-8,8′-dimethyltetro-hydrofuran(7),β-sitosterol((?)), daucosterol((?)).Compound ofⅠ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ,1,2,3,6,8,9 were isolated from Mystica argentea Warb.for the first time.Volatile oil of two varieties was analysed by GC-MS.We determined 32 compounds from M.argentea,29 compounds from the processed products of M.argentea;35 compounds from M.fragrans and 36 compounds from its processed products.Inorganic elements of two varieties was analysed by ICP-MS.The content of Mg,Ca,Fe, Na was increased after processing,while the content of K was decreased.2.Comparative Research on processing technology of the Mystica argentea Warb.and Mystica fragrans Houtt.After processing,the content of methyleugenol and isomethyleugeno was increased,while the content of safrol was reduced.The optimal processing technology of Mystica argentea Warb was obtained by orthogonal design using safrol,methyleugenol,methylisoeugenol as index substance,soaked the drug (100 Kg)with water for 6 hr,then roasted with wheat bran(40 Kg) at 160-170℃pot temperature for 25 min.3.Comparative Research on Pharmacology of Mystica argentea Warb.and Mystica fragrans Houtt.LD₅₀ of Mystica argentea Warb.is 17.5g/kg,and its processed product is 23.5g/kg.The processed products of M.argentea and M.fragrans both had significant inhibitive effect on the small intestinal propulsive motion in normal rats and rats of motion hyperfunction induced by neostigmine.4.Quality Standard Study of Mystica argentea Warb.and its Processed Product.We established quality standard of Mystica argentea Warb.and its processed product. For M.argentea,the content of methyleugenol and isomethyleugenol were not less than 0.035%and 0.007%respectively.And the content of safrol was no higher than 1.004%.Conclusion:We considered that Mystica argentea.Warb can be used as one of variety of Nutmeg based on comparative study with M.fragrans from chemical composition,processing technology,and pharmacology etc.