Yang Huan, Yin Hua-Wu, Wang Xue-Wei, Li Zi-Hao, Shen Yu-Ping, Jia Xiao-Bin
Department of Chinese Materia Medica, School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Jingjiang College, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
Pharmacogn Mag. 2015 Jul-Sep;11(43):636-42. doi: 10.4103/0973-1296.160472.
The tubers of Dioscorea zingiberensis, is the most favorable plant material for the production of diosgenin, an important bioactive steroidal sapogenin and requisite precursor of cortin, contraceptive and sex hormone, which is the only desired product after steroidal saponins from the tubers are hydrolyzed.
A novel technology, in situ pressurized biphase acid hydrolysis was constructed for the first time to simplify extraction process, increase extraction yield and decrease the consumption of mineral acids.
The method developed in this study has been optimized and verified through orthogonal design for experiments, in which the effect and their significance of four factors including molarity of acid, temperature, extraction duration and sample quantity have been investigated. Then, the comparison was conducted among the newly developed method and other reported methods. The diosgenin was also isolated by column chromatography, followed by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis for structural confirmation.
It was found that temperature is the factor of the most influence and the highest extraction yield at 2.21% has been achieved while the hydrolysis was performed at 140°C for 1.5 h in 0.20M H2SO4 solution with petroleum ether under an uncontrolled pressurized condition. And, compared to the others, the increment in the extraction yield of new method was 20.8 ~ 74.0%, and the consumption of H2SO4 was reduced by 17 times at most.
This method is a much cleaner and more efficient approach for extraction of diosgenin from the tubers, and is promising to be applied in pharmaceutical industry.
盾叶薯蓣的块茎是生产薯蓣皂苷元的最适宜植物材料，薯蓣皂苷元是一种重要的生物活性甾体皂苷元，是皮质激素、避孕药和性激素的必需前体，是块茎甾体皂苷水解后唯一需要的产物。
首次构建原位加压双相酸水解新技术，以简化提取工艺，提高提取率，减少无机酸消耗。
本研究开发的方法通过正交试验设计进行了优化和验证，考察了酸浓度、温度、提取时间和样品量4个因素的影响及其显著性。然后，将新开发的方法与其他报道的方法进行比较。还通过柱色谱法分离薯蓣皂苷元，随后进行质谱和核磁共振分析以确认结构。
发现温度是影响最大的因素，在0.20M硫酸溶液中，于140℃、在非控制加压条件下用石油醚水解1.5小时，可获得最高2.21%的提取率。而且，与其他方法相比，新方法的提取率提高了20.8%~74.0%，硫酸消耗量最多减少了17倍。
该方法是从块茎中提取薯蓣皂苷元的一种更清洁、更高效的方法，有望应用于制药工业。
