Effect of Echinacea purpurea Herb Defatting on the Extraction of Hydroxycinnamic Acids

INTRODUCTION. Currently the development of novel resourceand cost-effective extraction techniques for herbal medicinal products is a priority for pharmaceutical technology. A unique position among these herbal medicinal products belongs to the medicinal products of Echinacea purpurea, which stimulate the innate immune system.

AIM. The study aimed to investigate the effect of E. purpurea herb defatting on the extraction of hydroxycinnamic acids (HCAs) from the herbal drug and to evaluate the suitability of this treatment for the production of E. purpurea tinctures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. On the basis of previous  experimental  findings, heptane was chosen as the defatting solvent. The production of E. purpurea tinctures included an additional step of herbal drug heating. The content of total HCAs was determined using a pharmacopoeial method, while the content of individual HCAs was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. The residual defatting solvent was quantified by gas chromatography. The experiment used reference standards for HCAs.

RESULTS. The study showed that a single one-hour defatting treatment of the herbal drug with heptane at a 1 g to 5 mL ratio increased the yield of HCAs extracted from Е. purpurea herb. The optimal production process for E. purpurea tinctures involved grinding the herbal drug to 500–2000 μm, macerating the powder with 60% ethanol (v/v) at a 1 g to 10 mL ratio for 7 days, mechanically stirring the mixture for 60 min, and settling the crude extract for 3 days. Heating the herbal drug prior to extraction resulted in the highest yield of HCAs.

CONCLUSIONS. The newly developed production technology for E. purpurea tinctures with a preliminary defatting step increases the HCA content in the tinctures. This technology can be used for the industrial production of tinctures high in HCAs.

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