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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #218103

Title: Chromatographic Profiles of Ginkgo biloba Leaves and Selected Products

Author
item Lin, Longze
item Chen, Pei
item Harnly, James - Jim

Submitted to: Experimental Biology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/6/2007
Publication Date: 4/5/2008
Citation: Lin, L., Chen, P., Ozcan, M., Harnly, J.M. 2008. Chromatographic Profiles of Ginkgo biloba Leaves and Selected Products. Experimental Biololgy Meeting, April 5-9, 2008, San Diego, CA.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Ginkgo biloba leaves and their extracts are one of the most widely used herbal products or dietary supplements in the world. Their flavonoids and terpene lactones are considered to be the main beneficial components. Many previous studies have focused on specific components, or families of components, but a comprehensive study to identify all phenolic components is lacking. A method based on liquid chromatography separation and detection by diode array and electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-ESI/MS) was developed to obtain chromatographic profiles for the flavonoids and terpene lactones of Ginkgo biloba leaves. The method was used to identify 46 glycosylated flavonols and flavones, 3 free aglycones, catechin, 10 biflavones, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and 4 terpene lactones in aqueous methanol extracts of the leaf materials. Identification of the compounds was made based on a comparison of retention times and UV and MS data to that for commercial standards and data in the literature. The identifications were further confirmed by the presence of the aglycones and p-coumaric acids produced by acidic and alkaline hydrolysis. The phenolics content of the Ginkgo biloba products were the same as the raw leaves, with the exception of the biflavones, which were only found in the raw leaves. This is the first report for more than 20 of the flavonoids found in Ginkgo biloba leaves. This research was funded by USDA and the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health.