Ferula penninervis Regel et Schmalh. (feather-veined giant fennel) is a perennial herbaceous plant of Apiaceae family, widespread in the dry regions of Central Asia. Extract of various Ferula species have shown antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor and antidiabetic activities [1]. Sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpene coumarins and dimeric coumarins are considered the main biologically active constituents [2].
The aim of the study was to optimize the high-performance counter-current chromatography technique (HPCCC), which has been already successfully used for separating numerous natural products, to obtain pure secondary metabolites from F. penninervis roots. In order to find the suitable coefficient partition (K) values of target compounds, different mixtures of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (HEMWat) were tested; of these, HEMWat 3:2:3:2 (v/v/v/v) was further selected for the HPCCC separation of the crude methanolic extract of F. penninervis roots, performed at a flow rate of 6 mL/min, 1600 rpm and 254 nm. Five guaiane sesquiterpene lactones, namely: olgin (5.9 mg, 95.7% purity), laferin (9.7 mg, 95.7%), olgoferin (4.2 mg, 95.4%), oferin (3.1 mg, 98.0%) and talassin B (4.9 mg, 98.4%), were obtained from a total amount of 800 mg of crude extract. The compounds were identified by the use of spectrometric methods and comparison with literature data [3]. Since all these compounds were isolated for the first time by HPCCC, this technique could thus open the perspectives of large scale isolation of biologically active compounds from F. penninervis or other plant species abundant in sesquiterpene derivatives.
Acknowledgments: This work was supported grant No 4/POLTUR-1/2016
References:
[1] Zhou Y et al. Drug Dev Res 2017; 78: 321-331
[2] Shikishima Y et al. J Nat Prod 2002; 65:1897-1903.
[3] Konovalova OA et al. Khim Prir Soedin 1975; 5:590-600.