Optimization of Ultrasonic-Assisted Simultaneous Extraction of Three Active Compounds from the Fruits of Forsythia suspensa and Comparison with Conventional Extraction Methods.

Xinsheng Fang,Mingqian Hao,Zongyuan Jin,Jianhua Wang,Shubo Gu,Zhenzhen Yin

doi:10.3390/molecules23092115

Xinsheng Fang, Mingqian Hao + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23092115

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Abstract

An efficient ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) method was developed for simultaneous extraction of three active compounds, forsythiaside A (FSA), phillyrin (PHI) and rutin (RT), from the fruits of Forsythia suspensa. The effects of various factors including a binary mixed solvent of methanol/water and ethanol/water, the pH of the solvent, particle size, temperature, solvent to material ratio, ultrasonic input power and extraction time on UAE were investigated in detail. The mass transfer mechanism of UAE using different mixed solvents was further explained by comparison with the maceration extraction method. The response surface methodology was used to optimize the experimental variables including ethanol concentration, solvent to material ratio and extraction time. The optimized conditions for the simultaneous extraction of RT, FSA and PHI were: particle size 60–80 mesh, temperature 30 °C, ultrasonic power 200 W, ethanol concentration 50%, solvent to material ratio 32 mL/g and extraction time 37 min. Compared to conventional extraction methods, UAE provided the highest extraction efficiency and offered many advantages including the reduction of solvent, temperature and time for extraction.

Highlights

Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl. is widely distributed in China, Korea, Japan and many European nations
When the solvent was the mixture of methanol/water, the yields of RT, forsythiaside A (FSA) and PHI increased when the solvent changed from 10–70%
The efficient ultrasonic-assisted extraction method was developed for simultaneous extraction of rutin, forsythiaside A and phillyrin from the fruits of F. suspensa

Summary

Introduction

Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl. is widely distributed in China, Korea, Japan and many European nations. The fruit of F. suspensa (Lianqiao in Chinese, weeping forsythia in English) is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine [1]. Lianqiao has been widely used as an antipyretic and antidotal agent and has shown the effects of being anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, resisting hepatic injury, etc. Forsythiaside A was reported to have various biological activities such as antibacterial [2], antiviral [9], antioxidant [10], vasorelaxant [11] and a neuroprotective effect [12,13]. Phillyrin showed the activities of being antibacterial [5], antivirus [14] and having a protective effect on LPS-induced acute lung injury [15]

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