Separation of cucurbitane triterpenoids from bitter melon drinks and determination of partition coefficients using vortex-assisted dispersive liquid-phase microextraction followed by UHPLC analysis

Abstract

A rapid, effective method applying vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction before ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry and evaporative light scattering detection was developed for the analysis of four cucurbitane triterpenoids (momordicoside L, momordicoside K, momordicoside F , and 3β,7β,25-trihydroxy cucurbita-5,23(E)-dien-19-al) in bitter melon juices. Variables affecting the extraction efficiency including different extraction solvents, volume of extraction solvent, salt amount, acid condition, vortex speed and time were optimized thoroughly. Under the optimum conditions, precision was determined by the intra- and inter-day tests in a range of 1.1-5.7% and 2.9-4.0% (RSD), respectively, with recoveries between 95.7 and 106.1%. The calibration curves showed good linearity with square correlation coefficient of 0.9936-0.9991 (evaporative light scattering detection) and 0.9858-0.9989 (MS). The detection limits ranged from 0.8-1.9 ng/mL (MS) to 3-10 ng/mL (evaporative light scattering detection) for these compounds. Enrichment factors of four target compounds were between 27 and 63 times. The proposed method was also used to determine the apparent solvent/water partition coefficients of analytes within the range of 53-120. The developed method can effectively enrich and quantify cucurbitane triterpenoids from bitter melon drinks.

Microwave- and Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Cucurbitane-Type Triterpenoids from Momordica charantia L. Cultivars and Their Antiproliferative Effect on SAS Human Oral Cancer Cells

“…The results indicated good linearity and accuracy over the selected range. These LOD and LOQ results were similar to those of other LC/MS/MS detection methods in the literature [ 19 , 24 ], and the LOD and LOQ values were much lower than HPLC/ELSD [ 25 ]. This is the first report of the qualification of 10 terpenoids in bitter melon by UHPLC–MS/MS.…”

Simultaneous isolation and purification of cucurbitacin D and I from Ecballium elaterium (l.) A. Rich fruit juice

“…This condition indirectly affects the amount of the target compound. According to the literature, the basic components of E. elaterium fruit juice are cucur-bitacin B, D, E and I [36]. A high ratio of Cu D and I are obtained when the fruit juice is extracted directly with chloroform.…”

Cucurbitacin I exhibits anticancer efficacy through induction of apoptosis and modulation of JAK / STAT3 , MAPK / ERK , and AKT / mTOR signaling pathways in HepG2 cell line

“…Although E. elaterium contains many Cucurbitacin subspecies, generally, it is cucurbitacin B, D, I, and E that are isolated from the juice of this plant (Hu et al, 2017). Plant collection, extraction, and purification processes for obtaining cucurbitacins were conducted following the method previously described by Tosun and Baysar (Tosun & Baysar, 2019).…”