Component Analysis of Black Ant (Polyrhachis lamellidens) Extracts from Supercritical Fluid Extraction
YIH-DIH CHENG1,3*, CHIUNG-HUI TSENG2, HUI-PO WANG3 AND CHI-CHOW LIAO2,3
1. Department of Pharmacy, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital - Keelung, 222, Maijin Rd., Keelung 204, Taiwan, R.O.C.
2. Department of Pharmacy Services, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital - Linkou, 5, Fushing St., Gueishan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan, R.O.C.
3. Graduate Institute of Natural Products, Chang Gung University, 259, Wenhua 1st Rd., Gueishan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan, R.O.C.
(Received: January 10, 2001; Accepted: March 7, 2001)
ABSTRACT
The Black ant Polyrhachis lamellidens Fr. Smith (Formicidae), found wild throughout China and Taiwan, has long been used as folk medicine for the treatment of rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic hepatitis, sexual hypofunction and antiaging.
In this study, we extracted several components from this insect by using the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technique under different temperature, pressure, and extraction time. The extracts were analyzed by gas chromatographic-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and identified by a mass library search. This paper presents a comparison of extraction quantity and composition by different extraction conditions.
The results show that thirty-nine known compounds were isolated from P. lamelliden for the first time. Pressure is the major factor in affecting the extraction yield in SFE. The results also indicated that (Z)-9-octadecenoic acid (oleic acid) is the major constituent in the extracts from all the SFE extraction and from 95% ethanolic extraction. In addition to oleic acid, the extracts are also rich in aliphatic hydrocarbons, aliphatic alcohols, aliphatic fatty acids, and steroids.
Key words: Black ant, Polyrhachis lamellidens, supercritical fluid extraction,GC-MS