Rapid Separation Method of Ursolic Acid from Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Flowers using Normal-Phase Flash Chromatography

Ursolic acid (UA) is a major bioactive component in many traditional medicinal plants including pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) flower. In vitro and in vivo studies have both revealed that UA has  many  important  biological  functions.In  this  study,  a  rapid  and  efficient  procedure  for preparation of UA from an Iranian pomegranate flower cultivar using ultrasound-assisted extraction followed  by  normal-phase  flash  chromatography  (NP-FC)  was  developed.  After  one  flash chromatography run, the purity of UA reached more than 97% with a total yield of 0.1% of dried pomegranate flower powder. The chemical structure of isolated UA was identified by IR, MS and NMR spectra.  This  is  the  first  report  on  isolation  of  UA  from  pomegranate  flowers.  The  NP-FC method was shown to be a good method for the purification of UA from pomegranate flowers, and it can be an excellent basis for large-scale preparation of UA from pomegranate flowers or other plant extracts.