Efficient Isolation of an Anti-Cancer Sesquiterpene Lactone from Calomeria amaranthoides by Steam Distillation

Colin Charles Duke, Caroline van Haaften, Van Hoan Tran

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DOI: 10.4236/gsc.2011.14020                

Abstract

An efficient method of isolating an anti-cancer sesquiterpene lactone, eremophila-1(10)-11(13)-dien-12,8?- olide, was developed from fresh Calomeria amaranthoides plant material on the basis of its non-polar vola-tile property. Steam distillation of fresh plant material gave a high recovery of sesquiterpene-rich oil, 0.56%, compared with the estimated 0.66% calculated from solvent extraction of dried plant material. The ses-quiterpene-rich oil containing 58% of the sesquiterpene lactone was fractionated by the short-column vac-uum chromatography method, using minimal stationary-phase and solvent, to give the sesquiterpene lactone 95% purity, yield 41%.

Keywords

Sesquiterpene Lactone, Calomeria amaranthoides, Steam Distillation, Chromatography

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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