Simultaneous determination of flavonoids and anthraquinones in honey by using SPE-CE-LIF

Fractionating the Flavonoids in Lonicerae japonicae Flos and Lonicerae flos via Solvent Extraction Coupled with Automated Solid-Phase Extraction

Due to the structural diversity of flavonoids in functional plant foods and the inherent limitations of existing techniques, it is important to develop a simple and green (environmentally friendly) method of extracting flavonoids from plant foods. In this study, a method involving solvent extraction followed by automated solid-phase extraction was developed for extracting flavonoids from Lonicerae japonicae flos (JYH) and Lonicerae flos (SYH), both of which are widely used functional plant-based foods in Asian countries. For the optimisation of the solvent extraction method, solvent concentration (0.0, 20.0, 40.0, 60.0, 80.0 and 100.0% (v/v) of ethanol-water solution), extraction temperature (40, 60 and 80 °C) and extraction time (15.0, 30.0, 60.0, 90.0 and 120.0 min) were evaluated via design of experiment after screening. For solid-phase extraction, five cartridges (Strata-X, InertSep RP-2, InertSep RP-C18, Bond Elut-ENV, Oasis Prime HLB) were evaluated and different elution steps were optimised to obtain high recoveries (79.69-140.67%) for eight target flavonoids, including rutin, isoquercetin and luteolin. Antioxidant capacity assays revealed that JYH samples demonstrated superior antioxidant potential compared to SYH. The optimised extraction method provides a valuable tool for industrial-scale flavonoid production.

Development and Validation of a SPE-HPLC Method for Quantification of Rhein, Emodin, Chrysophanol and Physcion in Rhamnus petiolaris Boiss. & Balansa

Anthraquinones exhibit a significant group of natural and synthetic quinone derivatives because of their biological activities and industrial applications. Rhamnaceae is one of the families known to contain different kinds of anthraquinones. In this study, it was aimed to quantify rhein, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion in fruits of Rhamnus petiolaris Boiss. & Balansa belonging to Rhamnaceae by solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The anthraquinones were separated using a C18 analytical column. Gradient elution was performed using a mobile phase consisted of 0.1% o-phosphoric acid solution and methanol. Analytes were detected at 254 nm. Calibration curves were prepared in the range of 0.25-5.00 μg/mL for rhein, chrysophanol, physcion, 1.00-50.00 μg/mL for emodin. Limits of detection and quantification were between 0.07-0.11 and 0.20-0.34 μg/mL, respectively. Relative standard deviations were ≤ 5.78% in repeatability and intermediate precision studies. Accuracy was determined as relative mean error (8.17-12.06%). Extraction was achieved by maceration with acetone and ethanol, followed by hydrophilic-lipophilic balance solid phase extraction. Recoveries were between 96.2 and 109.6%. The developed and validated method was successfully performed to quantify rhein, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion in R. petiolaris fruit extracts. Only physcion was not detected above limit of detection.

Functionalized magnetic nanomaterials as recyclable adsorbents for efficient flavonoid enrichment in Scutellaria Radix

A magnetic composite (Fe3O4@SiO2@PNIPAM-co-NHMA) with high adsorption capacity and recoverability was developed for the enrichment and determination of flavonoids in Scutellaria Radix (SR). A magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) technique using Fe3O4@SiO2@PNIPAM-co-NHMA absorbent in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for selectively enrichment and determination of the biologically active flavonoids in the aqueous extract of SR, including baicalein, baicalin, wogonoside and wogonin. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the magnetic adsorbent could adsorb up to 77.0 ± 0.98 % - 98.15 ± 0.15 % of four representative flavonoids from SR, with elution rates varying from 55.10 ± 0.25 % to 91.94 ± 1.85 %. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantitation (LOQ) were 0.01-0.35 μg/mL and 0.03-0.98 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, it remained effective after six replicates, demonstrating its potential as a recoverable adsorbent for enriching flavonoids in traditional Chinese medicine.

Capillary electromigration methods for food analysis and Foodomics: Advances and applications in the period March 2021 to March 2023

This work presents a revision of the main applications of capillary electromigration (CE) methods in food analysis and Foodomics. Papers that were published during the period March 2021 to March 2023 are included. The work shows the multiple CE methods that have been developed and applied to analyze different types of molecules in foods and beverages. Namely, CE methods have been applied to analyze amino acids, biogenic amines, heterocyclic amines, peptides, proteins, phenols, polyphenols, pigments, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, DNAs, contaminants, toxins, pesticides, additives, residues, small organic and inorganic compounds, and other minor compounds. In addition, new CE procedures to perform chiral separation and for evaluating the effects of food processing as well as the last developments of microchip CE and new applications in Foodomics will be also discussed. The new procedures of CE to investigate food quality and safety, nutritional value, storage, and bioactivity are also included in the present review work.

Fluorescence enhancement of flavonoids and its application in ingredient determination for some traditional Chinese medicines by CE-LIF

Flavonoids are widely used in the treatment of various diseases due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antiviral properties. Fluorescence detection is rarely applied for the determination of flavonoids because of their weak fluorescence. In this work, a method of fluorescence enhancement of flavonoids was firstly introduced by using sodium acetate for flavonoid derivatization. The study discovered that flavonoids, with a hydroxyl at the C3 position, had the ability to emit strong fluorescence after derivatization. Five flavonoids, kaempferide, galangin, isorhamnetin, kaempferol and quercetin, having a special structure, were selected, derivatized and analyzed by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Under the optimal conditions, the five flavonoids could be completely separated within 3 minutes. Good linear relationships were obtained for all analytes and the limits of detection for the five flavonoids were in the range of 1.18-4.67 × 10^-7 mol L^-1. Finally, the method was applied to the determination of flavonoids in five traditional Chinese medicines: aster, chamomile, galangal, tangerine peel and cacumen biotae. Flavonoids were successfully found in all these medicines by the developed method. The recoveries were in the range of 84.2-111%. The method developed in this study was fast, sensitive and reliable for the determination of flavonoids.

Non-destructive distinction of single seed for Medicago sativa and Melilotus officinalis by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection

Flavonoids are a class of natural polyphenolic compounds with great health benefits, and the development of methods for their analysis is of continuing interest. In this work, apigenin, kaempferol and formononetin were selected as the typical representatives of flavone, flavonol and isoflavone, three subclasses of flavonoids. Fluorescence studies revealed that tetraborate complexation could significantly sensitize the weak intrinsic fluorescence of flavonoids in solution, with a maximum of 137-fold for kaempferol. Subsequently, an integrated strategy of derivatization and separation was proposed for the universal analysis of flavonoids by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with 405 nm laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. Using a running buffer consisting of 20 mM sodium tetraborate, 10 mM SDS and 10% methanol (pH 8.5), the dynamic derivatization was realized in the capillary, and the baseline separation was achieved within 10 min, with the detection limits of 0.92-35.46 nM (S/N=3) for the total of 9 flavonoids. The developed CE-LIF method was employed to the quantitative analysis of some flavonoids in Medicago sativa (alfalfa) plants and granulated alfalfa with the recoveries of 80.55-94.25%. Combined with the principal component analysis, the developed method was successfully applied to the non-destructive distinction of single seed for alfalfa and Melilotus officinalis (sweet clover), two forage grass seeds with very similar apparent morphology. Furthermore, this method was used to continuously monitor the substance metabolism during the soaking process at the level of single seed.

Solid-phase adsorption methodologies of naturally occurring anthraquinones: A review

INTRODUCTION

Solid-phase extraction applied to plant matrices is nowadays a well-validated technique allowing to concentrate and purify different secondary metabolites. Several classes of phytochemicals have been selectively extracted by this methodology. During the last decade attention has been focused on biologically active anthraquinones from numerous sources like edible, healthy, and medicinal plants.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this review is to provide a detailed literature survey of the solid-phase adsorption methodologies for the extraction of natural anthraquinones reported so far and to discuss and propose future directions in this field of research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Substructure search was performed in the SciFinder Scholar, PubMed, Medline, and Scopus databases.

RESULTS

The first report about application of solid-phase adsorption for the purification of anthraquinones appeared in the literature in 2002. From this date, and in particular during recent years, the most notable examples included the use of chitin- and chitosan-based polymers, of molecularly imprinted polymers, of coated magnetic nanoparticles, of miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion, of functionalized resins, of differently structured lamellar solids, and finally of vortex-synchronized matrix solid-phase dispersion.

CONCLUSIONS

The herein detailed solid-phase adsorption methodologies are powerful tools to selectively extract natural anthraquinones and/or provide anthraquinone-enriched phytopreparations. Nevertheless, many other important methods have been applied to synthetic anthraquinones (e.g., azo dyes). These could be conveniently employed also for natural anthranoids. Studies in this field are discussed in this review article.

Preparation of magnetic metal-organic framework MIL-101(Fe) and its application in the extraction of anthraquinones in rhubarb

In this work, a magnetic octahedral metal organic framework (Fe₃ O₄ @NH₂ -MIL-101(Fe)) was synthesized for the magnetic solid phase extraction of three anthraquinones, including aloe-emodin, emodin, and physcion, in rhubarb. The Fe₃ O₄ @NH₂ -MIL-101(Fe) exhibited a high specific surface area of 259.2 m² /g with an average pore size of 6.0 nm and a high magnetic responsivity of 23.4 emu/g, which may be used as an adsorbent for rapid preconcentration and separation of target analytes. The main parameters for magnetic solid phase extraction of anthraquinones, including the amount of adsorbent, extraction time, extraction temperature, extraction pH, elution solvent, and elution time, were systematically optimized. The whole extraction process required a very low amount of adsorbent and a small volume of the sample. Besides, under the optimized conditions, the method showed satisfactory spiked recovery for anthraquinones in the range of 93.3%-109.1%, and the LODs were 1.7-3.4 ng/mL. The RSDs for intra- and inter- day precision were 0.2%-1.3% and 0.2%-0.6%, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the developed method is feasible for the analysis of anthraquinones in rhubarb. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Accumulation Pattern of Flavonoids during Fruit Development of Lonicera maackii Determined by Metabolomics

Lonicera maackii (Caprifoliaceae) is a large, upright shrub with fruits that contain many bioactive compounds. Flavonoids are common active substances in L. maackii. However, there is a dearth of information about the accumulation of these flavonoids and their possible medicinal value. We used targeted metabolomics analysis based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to analyze five developmental stages of L. maackii fruit. A total of 438 metabolites were identified in the five developmental stages, including 81 flavonoids and derivatives. The 81 flavonoids included 25 flavones and derivatives, 35 flavonols and derivatives, two isoflavones, three cyanidins and derivatives, eight procyanidins, and eight flavanones. In addition, we outlined the putative flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and screened their upstream metabolites. More importantly, we analyzed the accumulation patterns of several typical flavones and flavonols. The results reported here improved our understanding of the dynamic changes in flavonoids during fruit development and contributed to making full use of the medicinal value of L. maackii fruit.