The isomerism of glucaric acids and the complexity of the composition of Leonurus japonicus Houtt. increased the difficulty of the separation of glucaric acids from the herb. In the present study, three glucaric acids were isolated from Leonurus japonicus Houtt. by using high-speed countercurrent chromatography combined with semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography. Cation exchange resin chromatography was applied to remove the alkaloids and enrich the glucaric acid fractions. Preliminary separation of the glucaric acid extract by high-speed countercurrent chromatography was carried out at 45℃ by using an optimized solvent system of ethyl acetate/n-butanol/formic acid/water (1:1:0.01:2, v/v/v/v) with satisfied stationary phase retention and separation factor. The semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography was used for further separation and purification of the target fractions, and three monomeric compounds were obtained with purities of 90.0, 91.0, and 95.3%. UV spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry were employed to identify their structures, which were assigned as 2-syringyl glucaric acid, 2,4-disyringyl glucaric acid, and 3,4-disyringyl glucaric acid, respectively, and 2,4-disyringyl glucaric acid was reported for the first time.
Keywords: Leonurus japonicus Houtt; Semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography; glucaric acids; high-speed countercurrent chromatography.
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