Studies On The Bioactive Components Of Dragon's Blood From D.draco

Dragon's Blood from Daemonorops draco (D. draco) is a renowned traditional Chinese medicine. Its therapeutic applications are meant to stimulate blood circulation, control bleeding, heal wounds, promote tissue regeneration, and enrich blood. This study employed high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) to purify dracorhodin from the crude extract of D. draco. Afterward, high-performance liquid chromatography was combined with electrospray ion trap mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS~n) to investigate the major bioactive compounds in this crude extract. First, the purification procedure was performed using a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (2:3:2:3, v/v) and a mixture of dracorhodin and its corresponding chalcone was obtained together. Since the transformation between these two compounds can be interconverted by pH changes, dracorhodin was obtained at very high purity by involving pH modulation to the isolated mixture. Thus, an HSCCC method was successfully established for purification of dracorhodin directly from the extract of D. draco. Second, the structural elucidation of the major compounds in the crude extract of D. draco have been determined by HPLC/(+) ESI-MS~n. A total of eight compounds were investigated, two of which were isolated by column chromatography and identified by NMR and ESI-FTICR-MS. Then, the structures of the other six compounds were tentatively proposed based on their mass data compared with those of the two isolated compounds, as well as those found in literature.In addition, the distribution of Dragon's Blood and the application of its resin from D. draco were summarized briefly in this thesis.