Chromatographic Method For Separation Of Polar Components From Rhizoma Curcumae

Rhizoma Curcumae belongs to the zingiberaceae and was first recorded in the medicinal theory. The essential oil, which is the main bioactive ingredient in Rhizoma Curcumae, has a variety of pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumor, anti-viral anti-oxidation. Up to now. the research on Rhizoma Curcumae has been mainly concentrated on the essential oil and sesquiterpene compounds. However, the polar compounds in Rhizoma Curcumae were rarely studied, which possessed various bioactivities according to many reports. Therefore, it is desirable to research polar compounds in Rhizoma Curcumae for the comprehensive utilization of medicinal resources.A new solid phase extraction method was successfully developed to enrich acidic compounds in the water extract of Rhizoma Curcumae employing XAqua C3stationary phase. Consequently, high polar, medium polar and acidic compounds in the extract were fractionated into three fractions, which largerly simplified the sample complexity and realized the selectively enrichment of acidic compounds.Different high performance liquid chromatography methods were developed to separate the high polar, medium polar, and acidic compounds in the extract, respectively. Firstly, the high polar compounds were separated by hydrophilic chromatographic stationary phases (XAmide) with ACN and buffer as mobile phases. Secondly, the medium polar compounds were separated by reversed-phase chromatographic stationary phase (XAqua C18) with ACN and water as mobile phases. Finally, the acidic compounds were separated by two-multidimensional chromatography based on the hydrophilic chromatography and the mixed-mode chromatography.A purification method was established to achieve high performance separation of polar compounds in Rhizoma Curcumae with preparative chromatography. Three pure compounds were obtained and identified as guaiane sesquiterpene compounds by NMR and MS.