Exploiting the Complementarity between Dereplication and Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation for the Chemical Profiling of Natural Cosmetic Ingredients: Tephrosia purpurea as a Case Study

J Nat Prod. 2015 Jul 24;78(7):1609-17. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00174. Epub 2015 Jun 23.

Abstract

The aqueous-ethanolic extract of Tephrosia purpurea seeds is currently exploited in the cosmetic industry as a natural ingredient of skin lotions. The aim of this study was to chemically characterize this ingredient by combining centrifugal partition extraction (CPE) as a fractionation tool with two complementary identification approaches involving dereplication and computer-assisted structure elucidation. Following two rapid fractionations of the crude extract (2 g), seven major compounds namely, caffeic acid, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, ethyl galactoside, ciceritol, stachyose, saccharose, and citric acid, were unambiguously identified within the CPE-generated simplified mixtures by a recently developed (13)C NMR-based dereplication method. The structures of four additional compounds, patuletin-3-O-rutinoside, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, guaiacylglycerol 8-vanillic acid ether, and 2-methyl-2-glucopyranosyloxypropanoic acid, were automatically elucidated by using the Logic for Structure Determination program based on the interpretation of 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, and COSY) connectivity data. As more than 80% of the crude extract mass was characterized without need for tedious and labor-intensive multistep purification procedures, the identification tools involved in this work constitute a promising strategy for an efficient and time-saving chemical profiling of natural extracts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chromones / chemistry
  • Glucosides / chemistry
  • Kaempferols / chemistry
  • Molecular Structure
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Quercetin / analogs & derivatives
  • Quercetin / chemistry
  • Rutin
  • Seeds / chemistry
  • Tephrosia / chemistry*

Substances

  • Chromones
  • Glucosides
  • Kaempferols
  • Plant Extracts
  • kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside
  • Rutin
  • patuletin
  • Quercetin