Liquid Chromatographic Method for the Determination of Caffeoylquinic Acid Derivates in Hieracium pilosella L.

INTRODUCTION: Hieracium pilosella L. is a medicinal plant encountered in Europe in traditional herbal medicinal products. Caffeoylquinic (ortho-dihydroxycinnamic) acid derivatives are characteristic constituents used as analytical markers in the quality control of the herbal material. Until now, the caffeoylquinic acid derivatives have been assayed using a colorimetric method according to the French Pharmacopoeia. OBJECTIVE: To develop an HPLC-method for quantification of caffeoylquinic acid derivatives in H. pilosella. METHODOLOGY: Samples were prepared by methanol extraction of H. pilosella, dried herb. An HPLC method suitable for analysis was developed and validated. The content of caffeoylquinic acid derivatives was determined and expressed as chlorogenic acid. Individual substances in the samples were identified by analyses of UV-MS/MS spectra and by comparisons with spectra and chromatographic retention times of authentic reference substances. RESULTS: Validation showed that the chromatographic method has good selectivity with no interfering peaks. Sensitivity, linearity, repeatability and accuracy were shown to be adequate. In analyses of several batches of H. pilosella, contents of caffeoylquinic acids ranging from 0.7 to 1.9% were found. Compared to the colorimetric method, this newly developed HPLC method is more specific and results in detection of nominally lower amounts of caffeoylquinic acid derivatives. A new acceptance limit of 1.0% instead of 2.5% caffeoylquinic acid, expressed as chlorogenic acid, for H. pilosella, is proposed when using this HPLC-method. CONCLUSION: A newly developed HPLC method is shown to be appropriate for quantitative determination of caffeoylquinic acid derivatives in H. pilosella. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Design and synthesis of a library of tertiary amides: evaluation as mimetics of the melanocortins' active core.

Two hundred and ten tertiary amides were prepared on solid phase. Diamines were coupled to activated carboxylated Wang polymer, and the polymeric substituted benzyloxycarbonyl protected diamines obtained were reacted with aldehydes or ketones in trimethyl orthoformate giving resin attached Schiff bases. Coupled resins were then reduced to secondary amines by sodium cyanoborohydride in 4% acetic acid/trimethyl orthoformate, followed by acylation with the carboxylic acid in the presence of PyBroP and diisopropylethylamine. Cleavage of tertiary amides from the resin was made by trifluoroacetic acid in the presence of scavengers (mainly 1,2-ethanedithiol). When indole derivatives were prepared, parallel alkylation with the linker fragment occurred, giving derivatives of 2-(4-hydroxybenzyl)-indole as side products. Solution synthesis or mixed liquid/solid phase preparation of title substances proved to be advantageous in cases when the above method did not give acceptable results. According to this approach an efficient formation of Schiff bases was achieved in the presence of TiCl(4). Substances were isolated by reversed phase chromatography; in some cases isomers were additionally separated by chiral chromatography on Chirobiotic T. When tested on human recombinant melanocortin receptors all the tertiary amides showed some binding affinities; for the highest affinity compounds the K(i)s reached 400 nM on MC(1), 2 microM on MC(3) and 1 microM on MC(4) and MC(5) receptors. cAMP assays of some of the title compounds showed that the tertiary amides are melanocortin receptor antagonists on the four MC receptor subtypes.