Separation of Three Phenanthrenes and Two Bibenzyls from Chloroform Fractions of Pholidota Articulata Lindl. Using HPLC

Abstract

Abstract Background Pholidota articulata Lindl has been used as a traditional medicine and Yi-nationality herbal medicine for the treatment of various diseases. Phenanthrenes and bibenzyls commonly found in the genus Pholidota are one of their most important natural ingredients, due to their various biological activities. Objective This study aimed to establish an HPLC method for determination of the levels of three phenenthrenes (flavidin, lusianthridin, coelonin) and two bibenzyls (batatasin III, cirrhopetalidin) in rhizomes of P. articulata Lindl. Method The separated and elucidated compounds from chloroform fractions of P. articulata Lindl were used as standards and analyzed by gradient elution HPLC with a variable wavelength detector at 274 nm. Results The calibration curves exhibited good linearity (R2 = 0.9999), ranging from 20 to 960 ng/mL, the average recoveries were between 91.5 and 102.9%, and the RSD values of precision, stability, and repeatability were <2.34%. There were significant differences in the content of phenenthrenes and bibenzyls from the plants of genus Pholidota, Dendrobium, and Bulbophyllum. Furthermore, this is the first report on the validation of a method for the quantitative analysis of flavidin and cirrhopetalidin. Conclusions The present study provides an alternative method for the rapid separation of phenanthrenes and bibenzyls from natural products and lays a foundation for the study of biological activity. Highlights When using developed method in this study for separation of phenanthrenes and bibenzyls in genus Pholidota, chemicalin formation was more abundant from chloroform fractions.