Planta Med 2013; 79 - PI7
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1352097

Phytochemical analysis of biological active methanolic extract of cultivated Pelargonium graveolens using countercurrent chromatography conjugated with sephadex column

A Angelis 1, M Boukhris 2, N Aligiannis 1, M Bouaziz 2, S Sayadi 2, A Skaltsounis 1
  • 1Laboratory of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry, Department of Pharmacy, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
  • 2Laboratoire des Bioprocédés Environnementaux, Centre de Biotechnologie de Sfax, BP“1177”, Université de Sfax Sfax 3018, Tunisia

Pelargonium graveolens L'Hér. is an important cultivated, aromatic plant with a high worldwide production. It's essential oil has several important applications in aromatotherapy and traditional medicine. Although the essential oil has been extensively studied, there are limited works regarding its polar constituents. Recently a research article showed that both non- and polar extracts exhibit antioxidant and antimicrobial activity and could be considered as an alternative to 'synthetic food preservatives1. Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) has become an important tool for the modern phytochemical analysis, while the easy and effective scaling-up capabilities enable its industrial exploitation. In the current study the methanolic extract of P. graveolens was investigated. 400 mg of phenolic part obtained from the crude extract using resin Amberline XAD-4 were fractionated by FCPC using EtOAc/ButOH/H2O (10:5:15, v/v/v) biphasic system and subsequently the selected fractions were submitted to CC using sephadex LH-20. As a result, 3 simple phenolic compounds and 11 flavonoid derivatives were isolated and identified. The structure elucidation of isolated metabolites was confirmed by NMR and HRMS techniques. Additionally, five flavonoid glucosides, present as minor constitutes in the extract, where determined via UHPLC-UV/DAD-ESI-HRMS analysis. It is important to note that the main compounds of the methanolic extract were rutin and quercetin 3-O-(2-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside. To our knowledge, this is the first complete phytochemical analysis of the polar content of P. graveolens and the first separation procedure including CCC employment regarding the genus Pelargonium. In conclusion, the polar fraction of rose-scented geranium is a rich source of compounds with high antioxidant capacity and CCC could be efficiently utilized for scaling-up and commercial application.

Reference:

[1] Boukhris M, et al (2012), Phytother. Res., doi: 10.1002/ptr.4853.