ISOLATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF BERGENIN FROM ETHYL ACETATE EXTRACT OF FLUEGGEA VIROSA LEAVES

Abstract

Bergenin is an important constituent of Flueggea virosa (Euphorbiaceae), a tropical plant with several traditional uses. While there are numerous reports on the isolation and characterization of bergenin, a rapid, high-throughput, readily accessible method for the isolation and characterization of the compound locally has not been reported. Isocratic elution of ethyl acetate extract via vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) with methanol produced a white amorphous solid (100 mg), which was successfully isolated from 250 g of the plant. On the basis of spectral data (1H, C NMR, COSY, HSQC and HMBC) and comparison with literature reports, the structure of this solid was shown to be bergenin, a dihydroisocoumarin derivative of glucopyranosyl gallic acid.