How are Ginkgolides extracted?

Many medicines have extracts and are not made directly from powder. Like some Western medicines, they also have chemical extract ingredients, but chemical extracts are beneficial to the body and will not cause harm, so they can be used with confidence in normal times. Common ginkgo lactones use the highest quality extracts. This product has many main functions, but there are also some differences at present. Friends who understand chemistry can understand some of the structures in this regard.

structure

Ginkgolide A (GA), ginkgolide B (GB), ginkgolide C (GC), ginkgolide M (GM) and ginkgolide J (GJ) are diterpenoid compounds, the difference between them lies in the number of hydroxyl groups they contain and the positions where the hydroxyl groups are attached.

Molecular structure of Ginkgolide

The ginkgolide molecule has a unique twelve-carbon skeleton structure embedded with a tert-butyl group and six five-membered rings, including a spironanone ring, a tetrahydrofuran ring and three lactone rings. Ginkgolide has a strong and specific inhibitory effect on platelet activating factor (PAF) receptors, among which ginkgolide has the highest anti-PAF activity. PAF is an endogenous phospholipid secreted by platelets and various inflammatory tissues. It is the most effective platelet aggregation inducer discovered so far and is closely related to the occurrence and development of many diseases. Ginkgolides are currently considered to be the most promising natural PAF receptor antagonists for clinical application, and their antagonistic activity is closely related to their chemical structure. When R3 in the lactone structure is a hydroxyl group or the number of hydroxyl groups increases, the antagonistic activity against PAF weakens; when R2 is a hydroxyl group and R3 is H, the activity is significantly enhanced. Among them, ginkgolide B has the strongest antagonistic effect on PAF, and the pharmacological effects of ginkgolide B have been studied most intensively to date.

Purification

The extraction and purification methods of ginkgolide include: solvent extraction, column extraction, solvent extraction-column extraction, supercritical extraction and chromatography or column chromatography purification. The content of lactone components in Ginkgo extract can be determined by HPLC-UV, HPLC-RI, GC, HPLC-MS, NMR and bioassay methods, etc. However, due to insufficient sample pretreatment technology, insufficient sensitivity, or relatively poor stability and selectivity, the results are not ideal. Currently, the most effective analytical method reported is HPLC-ELSD. The detector is an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). This is a new universal mass detector for HPLC. It is not affected by the external environment. The mobile phase evaporates completely in the detector and does not interfere with the detection. Linearity experiments, recovery experiments, stability experiments, etc. have proved that the sensitivity and stability of ELSD in detecting ginkgolides can meet the requirements of content determination, and it is an ideal, simple and practical detection method. Its main disadvantage is the high carrier gas consumption.