Isolation and Purification of Kava Lactones by High Performance Centrifugal Partition Chromatography

Abstract

Kava kava (Piper methysticum) is currently used in a variety of herbal and homeopathic preparations to induce relaxation, treat anxiety, or induce sleep. The pharmacologically active compounds consist of a group of structurally related lactone derivatives that are concentrated in the roots, rhizomes, and root stems. The major constituents responsible for 95% of the total pharmacological activity are desmethoxyyangonin, dihydrokavain, yangonin, kavain, dihydromethysticin, and methysticin. The concern over the possible hepatoxicity of kava has led regulatory agencies in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, as well as the United States to respond by warning consumers about the potential risks of kava use, or by removing kava‐containing products from the marketplace. The high demand for purified kava‐lactones has emerged to facilitate necessary testing to investigate the rising concern over these cases of liver toxicity. A separation method using high performance centrifugal partition chromatography (HPCPC) has been developed for the isolation of each kava lactone from a CO2 extract of P. methysticum in a single chromatographic run.