Abstract:

The chemical components of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. were extracted by steam distillation and supercritical CO2 extraction, and analyzed by combined capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). Thirty and thirty four compounds were identified, respectively, and their relative contents were determined. This study revealed that the major components of L.chuanxiong Hort. by steam distillation and supercritical CO2 extraction were (Z)-ligustilide. The chemical components from L.chuanxiong Hort. extracted by supercritical CO2 extraction possessed more bioactive substances such as butylphthalide, butylidene phthalide, senkyunolide A, (Z)-ligustilide, (E)-ligustilide and senkyunolide I. However, the components from L.chuanxiong Hort. extracted by steam distillation contained more terpenes except for the bioactive substances. Therefore, supercritical CO2 extraction has more productivity than steam distillation for the extraction of the bioactive substances from L.chuanxiong Hort. Through the interpretation and summarization of the regular patterns of the lactones with unsaturated and saturated side chains from L.chuanxiong Hort., the structures of the lactones with unsaturated side chain such as (Z)-ligustilide, (E)-ligustilide, butylidene phthalide and senkyunolide I as well as the lactones with saturated side chain such as butylphthalide and senkyunolide A have been determined.

Key words: Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort., steam distillation, supercritical CO2 extraction, mass spectrometry, chemical component, structure determination