Ultrasound-assisted extraction optimization and validation of an HPLC-DAD method for the quantification of polyphenols in leaf extracts of Cecropia species

Andrés Rivera-Mondragón,Géraldine Broeckx,Catherina Caballero-George,Sebastiaan Bijttebier,Tania Naessens,Luc Pieters,Filip Kiekens,Erik Fransen,Sandra Apers,Yvan Vander Heyden,Kenn Foubert

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-37607-2

Abstract

Cecropia species are traditionally used in Latin American folk medicine and are available as food supplements with little information warranting their quality. The optimum conditions for the extraction of chlorogenic acid (CA), total flavonoids (TF) and flavonolignans (FL) from leaves of Cecropia species were determined using a fractional factorial design (FFD) and a central composite design (CCD). A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method coupled to a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was validated for the quantification of CA, TF and FL, following the ICH guidelines. Quantitative and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was also performed. The extraction-optimization methodology enabled us developing an appropriate extraction process with a time-efficient execution of experiments. The experimental values agreed with those predicted, thus indicating suitability of the proposed model. The validation parameters for all chemical markers of the quantification method were satisfactory. The results revealed that the method had excellent selectivity, linearity, precision (repeatability and intermediate precision were below than 2 and 5%, respectively) and accuracy (98–102%). The limits of detection and quantification were at nanogram per milliliter (ng/mL) level. In conclusion, the simultaneous quantification of chemical markers using the proposed method is an appropriate approach for species discrimination and quality evaluation of Cecropia sp.

Highlights

Plant species, popularly known as ‘yarumo’, ‘guarumo’, ‘guarumbo’, ‘embauba’, ‘ambay’ and ‘trumped tree’, belong to the genus Cecropia Loefl. (Urticaceae), which comprises 61 species and are distributed across the tropical and subtropical rainforest from Mexico over Central to South America below an altitude of 2600 m1,2
A detailed phytochemical study on Cecropia species collected in Panama, revealed the presence of flavonolignans in C. obtusifolia, C. peltata, C. insignis for the first time
Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS)

Summary

Introduction

Popularly known as ‘yarumo’, ‘guarumo’, ‘guarumbo’, ‘embauba’, ‘ambay’ and ‘trumped tree’, belong to the genus Cecropia Loefl. (Urticaceae), which comprises 61 species and are distributed across the tropical and subtropical rainforest from Mexico over Central to South America below an altitude of 2600 m1,2. Are traditionally used in Latin American folk medicine for the treatment of a variety of diseases, like diabetes[3], hypertension[4] and inflammation[5] They have been reported for their wound healing[6] and antimalarial[7] activities. A detailed phytochemical study on Cecropia species collected in Panama, revealed the presence of flavonolignans in C. obtusifolia, C. peltata, C. insignis for the first time (Rivera-Mondragón et al.[2] Submitted) Taking this into consideration, chlorogenic acid, total flavonoids and flavonolignans have been selected as suitable chemical markers for the qualitative evaluation of leaves of plants of the genus Cecropia[2]. The optimization of their extraction is of interest, since the chromatographic analysis only allows observing compounds properly extracted from the plant material

Methods

Results

Conclusion