Preparative Separation of Four Alkaloids from Gelsemium elegans by High-speed Counter-current Chromatography

An efficient method for the preparative isolation and purification of alkaloids from Gelsemium by using high speed counter-current chromatography and preparative HPLC

We established an efficient method using high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) combined with preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (prep-HPLC) for isolating and purifying Gelsemium elegans (G. elegans) alkaloids. First, the two-phase solvent system composed of 1% triethylamine aqueous solution/n-hexane/ethyl acetate/ethanol (volume ratio 4:2:3:2) was employed to separate the crude extract (350 mg) using HSCCC. Subsequently, the mixture that resulted from HSCCC was further separated by Prep-HPLC, resulting in seven pure compounds including: 14-hydroxygelsenicine (1, 12.1 mg), sempervirine (2, 20.8 mg), 19-(R)-hydroxydihydrogelelsevirine (3, 10.1 mg), koumine (4, 50.5 mg), gelsemine (5, 32.2 mg), gelselvirine (6, 50.5 mg), and 11-hydroxyhumanmantenine (7, 12.5 mg). The purity of these seven compounds were 97.4, 98.9, 98.5, 99, 99.5, 96.8, and 85.5%, as determined by HPLC. The chemical structures of the seven compounds were analyzed and confirmed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), and 13 C-nuclear magnetic resonance (13 C NMR) spectra. The results indicate that the HSCCC-prep-HPLC method can effectively separate the major alkaloids from the purified G. elegans, holding promising prospects for potential applications in the separation and identification of other traditional Chinese medicines.

The complete mitochondrial genome of heartbreak grass Gelsemium elegans (Gardner & Champ.) Benth. (Gelsemiaceae)

Gelsemium elegans, endemic to southern Asia, is a highly toxic plant with various medicinal functions. The complete mitochondrial genome of G. elegans was sequenced and assembled in this study. The genome is 405,990 bp in length and contains 37 protein-coding genes, 20 tRNA genes, and 3 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic tree based on 15 protein-coding genes common to six mitochondrial genomes in Gentianales support that G. elegans of Gelsemiaceae is sister to Apocynaceae.