Studies On The Chemical Constituents And Quality Control Of Folium Fici Microcarpae

Folium Fici Microcarpae, also called banyan leaf, is from the leaf of Ficus microcarpa L.f, which belongs to Ficus genus, Moraceae. Ficus microcarpa, also known as small Banyan, Banyan tree. It mainly distribute in the tropical and subtropical regions. In China, it distributes in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Taiwan, and Hubei (cultivated in Wuhan to Shiyan). And it is one of the principal plant species in local place. The evergreen tree is rich in resources, they always grow blow an altitude of 1900 metres. Ficus microcarpa is one kind of common civilian herb. The leaves and the air root (Radix Aerio Fici Microcarpae) can be used as medicine, which tastes mild and cool. The leaves have the effect on clearing heat, detoxifying, diminishing swelling, removing dampness and relieveing pain. The indication includes influenza, chronic bronchitis, whooping cough, tonsillitis, toothache, bacillary dysentery, enteritis, bruises and so on. It's the main raw material medicine of the Chinese patent medicine named Keteling Capsule.The chemical studies on banyan leaf reveal that flavonoid is one of the main compounds. So, it's significant to separate and purify the flavonoid active compounds for the quality control and guideline of clinical medication of Ficus microcarpa.In this article, based on the previous research, the effective part of flavonoid has been studied. We get n-butanol fraction from the water extract of the leaves. The fraction was further separated by some morden separation techniques, such as column chromatography, selectively using silica gel, polyamide, TLC and preparative liquid chromatography. Three compounds are obtained, and the structures of them are elucidated by physical and chemical properties, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. They are identified as isovitexin, vitexin and daucosterol, among which isovitexin and vitexin are isolated from Ficus microcarpa for the first time.It is the first time to apply HPLC method for studies on the fingerprint chromatogram of Folium Fici Microcarpae which the samples were collected from different regions and different months respectively. We ascertain two characteristic peak as isovitexin and vitexin. Meanwhile, isovitexin was used as reference substance to establish a sensitive and specific method of the fingerprint chromatogram. The similarity evaluation software published by committee of codex was used to compare the similarity evaluation and to set up the reference fingerprint chromatogram. The method of fingerprint chromatogram with reproducibility, stability, characteristic and specificity will be used to identify the quality and evaluate the samples of different origins and collection period of Folium Fici Microcarpae.Then, we develop a quantitative method to determine isovitexin in Folium Fici Microcarpae, and compare the content of isovitexin in Folium Fici Microcarpae of different growth stages. This method was simple, quick and accurate for the content determination of isovitexin in Folium Fici Microcarpae. The result reveals that the contents in 7-12 months were significantly higher than other months. The method provides a theoretical basis for the reasonable exploitation of Folium Fici Microcarpae.