Preliminary Study On The Comprehensive Utilization Of The Schisandra

Schisandra is a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine and has wide application for more than 2,000 years. It has the active components such as the lignans, volatile oils and polysaccharides, but only lignans were utilized while volatile oils and polysaccharides were seldom researched. After lignans were extracted from Schisandra, the rest was abandoned as wastes, and the medical resources were wasted severely. So the comprehensive utilization of the active components in the Schisandra was studied in this paper. The main contents are as follows:Part one: Analysis methods on lignans in SchisandraQuantitative and qualitative determination methods were studied and compared for the lignans in Schisandra. The conditions of TLC method for qualitative determination of lignans were as follows: The n-hexane-ethyl acetate (8:3) and self-made GF₂₅₄ plates were used and Rf values of Schisandrin , Wuweizi ester A, Schisandrin A and Schisandrin B were 0.21,0.32,0.66 and 0.71 respectively.The conditions of UV-spectrophotometry for quantitative determination of lignans were as follows: The detection wavelength was 243nm. The calibration curve was linear in range of 0.0026-0.0156mg/mL(r=0.99996). The average recovery was 100.86% (RSD=2.19%)(n=5).The conditions of visible iight-spectrophotometry for quantitative determination of lignans wrere as follows: The detection wavelength was 570nm. The calibration curve was linear in range of 0.0015-0.0210 mg/mL (r=0.99991). The average recovery was 98.64% (RSD=4.95%)(n=5). The result showed that values determined by UV-spectrophotometry method are higher than that determined by visible light-spectrophotometry method. The latter that was recorded in Pharmacopeias was chosen as the quantitative determination method for extraction technology.To establish a method for determining the content of the four lignans (Schisandrin, Wuweizi ester A. Schisandrin A, Schisandrin B) in extract of Schisandra simultaneously.The condition of TLCS for quantitative determination of four major lignans was: The contents of four major lignans could be determined by dual wavelength TLC-Scanning (λ_S=220nm,λ_R=340nm) after the extracts were developed by n-hexane- ethyl acetate (8: 3) on self-made GF₂₅₄ plates. The calibration curves were linear in range of 0.44～1.54μg for Schisandrin, 0.60～2.10μg for Wuweizi ester A, 0.52～1.82μg for Schisandrin A and 0.48～1.68μg for Schisandrin B respectively. The average recoveries were 104.5% for Schisandrin (RSD=4.0%), 95.0% for Wuweizi ester A(RSD=2.8%), 96.1% for Schisandrin A (RSD=2.6%) and 102.1% for Schisandrin B(RSD=1.9%)(n=5). TLCS method was applied to the quantitative determination method for four major lignans in extracts.Part two: Study on the technology of SFE-CO₂ of lignans in SchisandraThe technology of SFE-CO₂ was optimized by single factor tests and orthogonal experimental with recoveries of lignans as indexes. The average recoveries of lignans in S. sphenanthera and Schisandra chinensis were 95.5%, 93.2% and the lignans' contents in extracts ofSchisandra chinensis and S. sphenanthera were 9.2%, 13.0% at the optimum condition(25MPa as extraction pressure, 35℃as extraction temperature, 2L/rain as flow rate of CO₂ and 3h as extraction time). The average recovery of SFE-CO₂ was 1.5 times, the content of extracts of SFE-CO₂ was 3～4 times and the content ofγ-schisandrin was nearly 7 times compared to that of extract by alcohol so that it was considered to be simple, good selectivity, low operation temperature and no pollution technology, and had industrial application value.Part three: Study on the extraction and activitiy of polysaccharides in residuesBoth the extraction technology of polysaccharides in residues of SFE-CO₂ and antioxidant activity of the polysaccharides were studied. The technology of polysaccharides extraction from residues of SFE-CO₂ was optimized by single factor tests with recoveries of polysaccharides as indexes. The recoveries of polysaecharides from S. sphenanthera' and Schisandra chinensis' residues of SFE-CO₂ were 96.2% and 96.07%. the contents of polysaccharides of S. sphenanthera and Schisandra chinensis' were 33.6% and 28.5% at the optimum condition (1: 20 as the solid-liquid ratio, 100℃as the temperature, 6h as the time, one time extraction). The results showed that polysaccharides were partly lost by the technology of 60% alcohol extraction while none by technology of SFE-CO₂ so that the latter is better for comprehensive utilization compared with the former.These polysaccharides' pharmacology was studied elementarily. The results showed that S. sphenanthera polysaccharides have good antioxygenation to the hydroxyl free radicasl that IC₅₀ was 208.80μg/mL (IC₅₀ of Vitamin C was 132.57μg/mL), while that of Schisandra chinensis polysaccharides (IC₅₀ was 2672.30μg/mL) is much weaker than that of S. sphenanthera polysaccharides. Both of their effects on anti-oxygen free radicals were very weak. So polysaccharides of S. sphenanthera and Schisandra chinensis are worth to be further researched.Part four: The extraction of volatile oil in Schisandra and preliminary analysis of its constitutesSFE technology and chemical constitute of volatile oil were studied. The technology of SFE-CO₂ was optimized by orthogonal experimental with the yield of volatile oil as indexes. The average yield rate of volatile oils in S. sphenanthera and Schisandra chinensis were 8.2% and 8.5% at the optimum condition (15MPa as pressure, 40℃as temperature, 3h as time) while that by steam distillation were 1.4% and 2.0% (v/w%), which were lower than the former. GC-MS method was established for qualitative determination of volatile oil: HP-5 capillary column, carrier gas: He, front inlet temperature 220℃, oven temperature: 80℃, temperature programmed to 220℃, electron impact ionization, ionization energy 70EV. 16 chemical compounds were identified in both S. sphenanthera's and Schisandra chinensis' volatile oils extracted by SFE-CO₂, 26 and 24 chemical compounds were identified in Schisandra chinensis'and S. sphenanthera's volatile oils distilled by steam respectively.The assay indicates that Schisandra is worthy of comprehensive utilization. And a new technology was built for comprehensive utilization of lignans and polysaccharides in Schisandra. The new technology is as follows: lignans was extracted by SCF-CO₂ firstly at 25MPa as extraction pressure, 35℃as extraction temperature, 2L/min as flow rate of CO₂ and 3h as extraction time, 90% of the lignans were extracted, then polysaccharides were extracted at 1: 20 as the solid-liquid ratio, 100℃as the temperature, 6h as the time, one time extraction. The yield and content of polysaccharides were approximately equal to that of raw material. S. sphenanthera polysaccharides have good antioxygenation to the hydroxyl free radicals.