Abstract
Oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) were extracted from Hedyotis diffusa using a hyphenated procedure of ultrasound-assisted and supercritical carbon dioxide (HSC–CO2) extraction at different temperatures, pressures, cosolvent percentages, and SC–CO2 flow rates. The results indicated that these parameters significantly affected the extraction yield. The maximal yields of OA (0.917 mg/g of dry plant) and UA (3.540 mg/g of dry plant) were obtained at a dynamic extraction time of 110 min, a static extraction time of 15 min, 28.2 MPa, and 56°C with a 12.5% (v/v) cosolvent (ethanol/water = 82/18, v/v) and SC–CO2 flowing at 2.3 mL/min (STP). The extracted yields were then analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to quantify the OA and UA. The present findings revealed that H. diffusa is a potential source of OA and UA. In addition, using the hyphenated procedure for extraction is a promising and alternative process for recovering OA and UA from H. diffusa at high concentrations.
Highlights
Herbal medicines derived from plant extracts have been used to treat human diseases or maintain health
The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) chromatograms of the H. diffusa extracts using Heat-reflux extraction (HRE) and HSC–CO2 with aqueous ethanol as the cosolvent are shown in Figures 2(b) and 2(c), respectively
Many other peaks appear in the HPLC chromatograms of the H. diffusa extracts
Summary
Herbal medicines derived from plant extracts have been used to treat human diseases or maintain health. In traditional Chinese medicine, this plant is used extensively to treat hepatitis, tonsillitis, sore throat, appendicitis, urethral infection, and malignant tumors in the liver, lung, and stomach [3,4,5,6,7]. This herb has gained increasing amounts of attention regarding its usage as an antitumor herb in the liver, lungs, colon, brain, and pancreas [3, 4, 8, 9]. Finding an effective and optimal method for isolating UA and OA from H. diffusa has become highly important
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