Abstract
Context: Rhodiola rosea L. (Crassulaceae) is well-known to contain flavonoids such as the herbacetin derivative rhodiosin. However, flavonoids are not typically used in quality control.Objective: This study analyses two flavonoids of R. rosea rhizomes and roots for their potential as analytical markers.Materials and methods: Two constituents were isolated from ethanolic extracts via HPLC, identified via NMR and quantified via RP-HPLC. Presence and content variation was investigated according to extraction (solvent and repetitions), drying (temperature and duration) and sample origin (homogenously cultivated plants of different provenance, commercial samples).Results: Rhodiosin was identified as a main flavonoid, accompanied by 10-fold lower concentrated herbacetin. Both compounds were best extracted with 70–90% ethanol, but were also detectable in more aqueous extracts. Different drying conditions had no effect on the flavonoid content. These two flavonoids were consistently identified in rhizome and root extracts of over 100 R. rosea samples. Rhizomes tend to contain less flavonoids, with average ratios of rosavins to flavonoids of 1.4 (rhizomes) and 0.4 (roots). Provenance differences were detected in the range (rhodiosin plus herbacetin) of 760–6300 µg/mL extract corresponding to a maximum of approximately 0.5–4.2% (w/w) in the dry drug.Conclusions: For the first time, two main flavonoids present in R. rosea were quantified systematically. Rhodiosin and herbacetin can be detected simultaneously to phenylpropenoids or salidroside in authentic samples, influenced by the plant part examined and the plant origin. Rhodiosin and herbacetin may serve as additional marker to guarantee a consistent content of R. rosea products.
Highlights
Rhodiola rosea L. (Crassulaceae) is one of the well-known plants of a group of so-called adaptogens
Pharmacopoeia-specified standardization of products currently focuses on salidroside, a phenylethanoid found in all species of the Rhodiola genus besides some other plant species, as well as on phenylpropenoids characteristic of R. rosea and typically expressed as total rosavins
For the quantitative HPLC analysis, rhodiosin was purchased from Carbosynth (Compton, UK) and herbacetin was purchased from Phytolab (Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany)
Summary
Rhodiola rosea L. (Crassulaceae) is one of the well-known plants of a group of so-called adaptogens. Flavonoids are common constituents of many herbal drugs, present mainly in traditional extracts using ethanol/water mixtures. Their reasonable stability and easy detection often make them the parameter of choice for standardization. Several flavonoids have been isolated from Rhodiola species and have been reported previously These include herbacetin and its glycosides including 3,7-dimethylherbacetin, rhodiosin (herbacetin-7O-glucorhamnoside), rhodionin (herbacetin-7-O-a-L-rhamnopyranoside), rhodalgin (herbacetin-8-O-a-L-arabinopyranoside), rhodionidin (herbacetin-7-O-a-L-rhamnopyranosyl-8-O-b-D-glucopyranoside), rhodalin (herbacetin-8-O-b-D-xylopyranoside), rhodalidin (herbacetin-3-O-b-D-glucopyranosyl-8-O-b-D-xylopyranoside), rhodiolin (a flavolignan of herbacetin); tricin and its glycosides, as well as the gossypetin glycosides rhodiolgin (gossypetin-7-O-L-rhamnopyranoside) and rhodiolgidin (gossypetin-7-O-a-L-mannopyranosil-8-O-b-D-glucopyranoside) (Kurkin et al 1982, 1984a, 1984b; Zapesochnaya and Kurkin 1983; Zapesochnaya et al 1985)
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