Identifying the Issue
- Arjunolic acid and asiatic acid are two important bioactive compounds, however their separation is very difficult
Objective of the Research
- To develop a simple and robust chromatographic method to separate these two triterpene acids
Who should read this?
Faculty, research scholars, natural product chemists, pharmaceutical industries, and students of Medicinal and Organic chemistry
Solution
In our endeavor to develop a simple and robust method for separating arjunolic acid and asiatic acid, the heartwood of T. arjuna was powdered and extracted with ethyl acetate. The crude extract was passed through column chromatography to yield three fractions (a mixture of corosolic acid and maslinic acid, arjunolic acid and asiatic acid, and pure compound terminolic acid). The mixture of arjunolic acid and asiatic acid was passed through flash column chromatography with a varying range of solvent proportions and flow rates. This led to the separation of arjunolic acid and asiatic acid with very high purity (>99%). All the isolated compounds were characterized using UV, IR, NMR, HPLC, and HRMS. Through our method of isolation, the highly expensive Arjunolic acid (Merck 1mg ~33K, 95%) could be obtained in gram quantities at a much lesser cost (BOM for 10g for ~10K, >99%) with higher purity. We are the first to report corosolic acid, maslinic acid, and terminolic acid from Terminalia arjuna
Key Features and Benefits
- We report the first separation of arjunolic and asiatic acid in gram quantities, with a simple chromatographic technique.
- We are first to report terminolic acid, maslinic acid and corosolic acid from Terminalia arjuna.
- Cost benefit: Arjunolic acid can be obtained in gram quantities at very low cost [Merck 1mg ~33K, 95%); SSSIHL cost (BOM for 10g for ~10K, >99%)]
Impact
- Cost-effective method to get pure arjunolic acid and asiatic acid.
- Availability of arjunolic acid in large quantities enables synthesis of several new analogues that can be explored for their biological activities.
Team
Manohar Bhujel, Lakshminath Sripada, and Nageswara Rao Golakoti
Title of paper: “Development of an efficient chromatographic method for the extraction and separation of arjunolic acid and asiatic acid from the heartwood of Terminalia arjuna“
Read Paper Here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2025.112778
