title: Silybum marianum pericarp yields enhanced silymarin products.
abstract: An improved method for the purification of silymarin, the flavonolignan complex from the fruits of milk thistle, Silybum marianum, is reported. The method enables a more efficient extraction of silymarin from the pericarp after it has been separated mechanically from the rest of the fruits. Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) was employed for each extraction procedure. Quantitation of the eight major silymarin components in the pericarp extract was compared to that of the whole fruit extract using two orthogonal analytical methods. The pericarp extract showed higher silymarin content (2.24-fold by HPLC and 2.12-fold by qHNMR) than whole fruit extract using acetone as an extraction solvent following defatting with hexane. Furthermore, the mg/g recovery of silymarin major components was not diminished by eliminating the hexane defatting step from the pericarp extraction procedure. The efficiencies of acetone, ethanol, and methanol as extraction solvents were compared. Methanol pericarp extract showed the highest content of the silymarin major components, 2.72-fold higher than an extract prepared from the whole fruits using acetone. Finally, all of the major silymarin components showed a higher w/w content in the pericarp extract than in a commercial extract.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62111, Egypt. Electronic address: sameh.zaid@pharm.bsu.edu.eg.
authors.forename: Sameh F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: AbouZid
authors.affiliation: UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., M/C 781, Chicago, IL 60612, United States; Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., M/C 781, Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
authors.forename: Shao-Nong
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., M/C 781, Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
authors.forename: James B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: McAlpine
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., M/C 781, Chicago, IL 60612, United States; Physical Sciences Department, Rosary College of Arts and Sciences, Dominican University, 7900 West Division Street, River Forest, IL 60305, United States.
authors.forename: J Brent
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Friesen
authors.affiliation: UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., M/C 781, Chicago, IL 60612, United States; Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., M/C 781, Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
authors.forename: Guido F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Pauli
mesh_terms: D000096:Acetone; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D000431:Ethanol; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D006586:Hexanes; D000432:Methanol; D020944:Silybum marianum / Q000737:chemistry*; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry; D012838:Silymarin / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D006586:Hexanes; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012838:Silymarin; D012997:Solvents; D000096:Acetone; C026385:n-hexane; D000431:Ethanol; D000432:Methanol
keywords: Accelerated solvent extraction; Pericarp; Silybum marianum; Silymarin