Published:Journal of Chromatographic Science,
ISSN 0021-9665 Volume
47, Number 5, May/June 2009, pp. 337-340
Separation and Purification of Epimedin A, B,
C, and Icariin from the Medicinal Herb Epimedium
brevicornum Maxim by Dual-Mode HSCCC
Hua-Bin Li1,2, and Feng Chen2 1School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080,
China and 2School of Biological Sciences, The University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Epimedium brevicornum Maxim is a famous medicinal
herb which has been widely used for the treatment of impotence,
infertility, osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, amnesia,
and senile functional diseases. A dual-mode high-speed counter-current
chromatographic method is developed for the separation and purification
of four bioactive flavonoids from the medicinal herb Epimedium
brevicornum Maxim. The crude flavonoids are obtained by extraction
with ethyl acetate and ethanol from the dried aerial parts of
Epimedium brevicornum Maxim under sonication. High-speed counter-current
chromatography with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-butanol–ethyl
acetate–water (3:7:10, v/v) is performed using a dual-mode
method, which yields 3.2 mg of epimedin A at a purity of 98.2%,
5.5 mg of epimedin B at a purity of 92.6%, 12.7 mg of epimedin
C at a purity of 90.4%, and 42.9 mg of icariin at a purity of
96.8% based on the HPLC analysis. The recoveries are 95.2%, 89.4%,
91.1%, and 94.8%, respectively. The isolation of these flavonoids
in adequate amounts makes them readily available for structure-activity
relationship studies and for quality control of the herbal medicine.
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