Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines (English Ed.) 2019;17(9):713-720

doi:10.1016/S1875-5364(19)30086-X

Traditional Chinese medicine extraction method by ethanol delivers drug-like molecules.

William G MIAO 1 ; Chunping TANG 2 ; Yang YE 2 ; Ronald J QUINN 3 ; Yunjiang FENG 4

Affiliations

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Keywords

Extraction; Lipinski's Ro5Physicochemical properties; Natural products; Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)

Country

China

Language

English

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an important reservoir for bioactive natural products. TCM extraction methods by water decoction and wine tincture are an integral part of TCM and essential for their widely acknowledged efficacy. In this study, we selected 6 common TCMs that are rich in chemistry to investigate whether the TCM extraction methods deliver molecules with drug-like physical chemical properties. Six TCM herbal materials were extracted by water, 95% ethanol, and sequential hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. The extracts were analyzed by HPLC and H NMR. Isolation on one of the extracts yielded 32 compounds, their physical chemical properties were analyzed by Instant JChem. Our results showed that ethanol extraction, which mimics TCM wine tincture, delivered compounds with physical chemical properties compliant to Lipinski's rule of 5.