Quantitative Analysis of Camellia oleifera Seed Saponins and Aqueous Two-Phase Extraction and Separation

Abstract

At present, the technology used for the extraction and purification of <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins generally has the problems of high cost and low purity, and the quantitative detection of <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins also has the problems of low sensitivity and easy interference from impurities. To solve these problems, this paper aimed to use liquid chromatography for the quantitative detection of <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins, and to adjust and optimize the related conditions. In our study, the average recovery of <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins obtained was 100.42%. The RSD of precision test was 0.41%. The RSD of the repeatability test was 0.22%. The detection limit of the liquid chromatography was 0.06 mg/L, and the quantification limit was 0.2 mg/L. In order to improve the yield and purity, the <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins were extracted from <i>Camellia oleifera</i> Abel. seed meal by methanol extraction. Then, the extracted <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins were extracted with an ammonium sulfate/propanol aqueous two-phase system. We optimized the purification process of formaldehyde extraction and aqueous two-phase extraction. Under the optimal purification process, the purity of <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins extracted by methanol was 36.15%, and the yield was 25.24%. The purity of <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins obtained by aqueous two-phase extraction was 83.72%. Thus, this study can provide a reference standard for rapid and efficient detection and analysis of <i>Camellia oleifera</i> saponins for industrial extraction and purification.