Efficient Isolation of an Anti-Cancer Sesquiterpene Lactone from Calomeria amaranthoides by Steam Distillation

摘要

An efficient method of isolating an anti-cancer sesquiterpene lactone, eremophila-1(10)-11(13)-dien-12,8?- olide, was developed from fresh Calomeria amaranthoides plant material on the basis of its non-polar vola-tile property. Steam distillation of fresh plant material gave a high recovery of sesquiterpene-rich oil, 0.56%, compared with the estimated 0.66% calculated from solvent extraction of dried plant material. The ses-quiterpene-rich oil containing 58% of the sesquiterpene lactone was fractionated by the short-column vac-uum chromatography method, using minimal stationary-phase and solvent, to give the sesquiterpene lactone 95% purity, yield 41%.