Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction of Tanshinones from Korean Red Ginseng by Using Amino-Modified Monolithic Cartridge

Abstract

An amino-modified monolithic cartridge was prepared and used as a solid-phase extraction sorbent for the ultrasonic-assisted extraction of tanshinones from Korean red ginseng. After characterizing the material obtained, the SPE-HPLC method with a C₁₈ column (150 mm × 4.6 mm i.d.) was used to further test the performance of the amino-modified monolithic cartridge. Chromatography was performed by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography using a C₁₈ column with ultraviolet detection at 254 nm. The mobile phase was an eluting solution consisting of methanol-water (78/22, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. A good linear relationship was demonstrated at an analyte concentration of 0.5-100.0 μg/mL. The extraction recoveries ranged from 82.9 to 92.8 % and the inter- and intra-day relative standard deviations were < 6.0 %. This method is simple, economical and specific and has been used successfully for the extraction of tanshinones from Korean Red Ginseng. In addition, it avoids a tedious pretreatment and provides a fast, economic and reproducible method for assaying trace drugs in complex samples. This cartridge can be used as a potential tool for the extraction of drugs from natural plants.