Isolation of two polyphenolic compounds from hydnora abyssinica A. Br. Rhizomes by centrifugal partition chromatography and sephadex LH-20

Hydnora abyssinica A. Br. is a parasitic plant popularly grown in Africa and specifically in Sudan used traditionally for several gastrointestinal disorders. H. abyssinica rhizomes are rich in tannins that imparts it’s a strong astringency and bitterness. This study was aimed for phytochemical study of H. abyssinica rhizomes emphasising the application of Sephadex LH-20 resin and Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) methods to fractionate and isolate of the plant extract of major components therein. The CPC fractionation method and LH-20 resin pre-fractionation were successfully permitting structure elucidation for polyphenolic compounds from H. abyssinica rhizomes extract. Thin layer chromatography (TLC), High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were used for structure elucidation of the isolated compounds. Two polyphenolic compounds were successfully isolated and their structures were identified as katsumadin (1) (1,2-epoxy-1-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3-(2,3,5-trihydroxyphenyl)propane) and rhodiolosid (2) (2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl-β-D-glucopyranoside). These two structures were elucidated for first time from H. abyssinica grown in Sudan.