Quantitative Recovery of Furanocoumarins from Psoralea bituminosa

✍ Scribed by G. Innocenti; A. Piovan; R. Filippini; R. Caniato; E. M. Cappelletti

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 84 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0958-0344
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1565(199703)8:2<84::aid-pca336>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

The occurrence of bound coumarin derivatives in the Fabaceae has already been demonstrated. In an attempt to determine the yield of furanocoumarins following exhaustive recovery from Psoralea bituminosa, three different hydrolytic procedures have been employed. Method 1 involved the methanolic extraction of plant material followed by acid hydrolysis of the remaining plant material; methods 2 and 3 involved preliminary hydrolysis by acid or enzyme, respectively, followed by solvent extract. The lowest furanocoumarin recovery was obtained using the first extraction procedure, whilst the highest was obtained using the extraction procedure with enzymatic hydrolysis of bound forms (method 3). The linear isomer psoralen is more effectively recovered by the specific enzymatic hydrolytic method, with an average increase of the psoralen:angelicin ratio of about 20%. Although the preliminary acid hydrolysis (method 2) is less effective than the enzymatic one, it is a faster and less expensive procedure and it could be suitable and profitably used for extracting furanocoumarin from plant material on a large scale.