Chromatographic Methodology and Technology for Developing TCM

Chromatographic Methodology and Technology for Developing TCM Xinmiao Liang*, Xiuli Zhang, Xingya Xue, Jiatao Feng Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, P. R. China E-mail: liangxm@dicp.ac.cns Presently, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an important resource to treat many diseases, which has a long history in China, and is very complicated in chemical composition and pharmacology. Therefore, modernization of TCM is very necessary, including standardization, resourcing, quality control and research on chemical composition and pharmacology. “Multi-Component Chinese Medicine (MCCM)” represents a specific group of chemical composition produced from TCM according to a standardized separation process, which is hopefully to discover the chemical fundament of TCM’s pharmacology. The systematic research on MCCM is basing on modern separation and analytical techniques. In our group, a high-throughput preparation method has been developed in order to accelerate the pharmacological study of MCCM. The whole of TCMs were separated into a serious of small fractions containing several compounds by high-throughput preparative chromatography. Then these small fractions, what is called screening multi-components (SMCs), were screened by high-throughput screening (HTS). After biological screening, active multi-components were obtained and could be studied deeply further. This method will accelerate the process of explanation of the curative mechanism of TCMs, which simplifies the complex TCMs by concentrating on those interesting compounds from hundreds of thousands of compounds in TCMs. Standard libraries of SMCs are constructed, which will not only satisfy the need of TCMs, but also will speed up drug discovery by supplying persistent source for HTS. Two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2DLC) systems have developed for the characterization of SMCs and preparation of active compounds. Orthogonality and compatibility between the two-dimensional separations are key factors affecting the development of 2DLC. Based on the development of novel stationary phases, RP-HILIC 2DLC system and RP-RP 2DLC system were established. References [1] Guo ZM, Lei AW, Liang XM & Xu Q. Chem Comm, 4512-4514 (2006).. [2] Yanming Liu, Xingya Xue, Zhimou Guo, Qing Xu, Feifang Zhang, Xinmiao Liang. J. Chromatogr. A, 1208, 133–140 (2008) [3] Yanming Liu, Zhimou Guo, Yu Jin, Xingya Xue, Qing Xu, Feifang Zhang, Xinmiao Liang. J Chromatogr. A, 1206 153–159 (2008)