| Capillary electrophoresis (CE), which is a relatively new chemical separation technique, has been shown to be very effective for the analysis of a diverse array of charged and uncharged compounds, especially in complex mixtures and racemates. In this work, four bioactive components derived from licorice root, i.e. glycyrrhizin (GL), 18alpha-glycyrrhetinic acid (18alpha-GA), 18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid (18beta-GA) and isoliquiritigenin (IQ) were separated by CE. Since 18alpha-GA and 18beta-GA are diastereoisomers having different pharmacological effects, their chemical separation and subsequent analysis in licorice is important. For the first time, separation of these diastereoisomers by CE using a chiral additive has been achieved. Subsequently, simultaneous separation of above four pharmacological active components in one run by CE was reported. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
