Chelerythrine (CH) and ethoxychelerythrine (ECH) are chemical reference substances for quality control of Chinese herbal medicines, and ECH is the dihydrogen derivative of CH. In this study, their fluorescence and absorption spectra, as well as their structural changes in different protic solvents were compared. It was observed that their emission fluorescence spectra in methanol were almost the same (both emitted at 400 nm), which may be attributed to the nucleophilic and exchange reactions of CH and ECH with methanol molecules with the common product of 6-methoxy-5,6-dihydrochelerythrine (MCH). When diluted with water, MCH was converted into CH, which mainly existed in the form of positively charged CH+ under acidic and near-neutral conditions with the fluorescence emission at 550 nm. With the increase of pH value of the aqueous solution, CH+ converted to 6-hydroxy-5,6-dihydrochelerythrine (CHOH) with the fluorescence emission at 410 nm. The fluorescence quantum yields of MCH and CHOH were 0.13 and 0.15, respectively, and both the fluorescence intensities were much stronger than that of CH+. It is concluded that CH and ECH can substitute each other in the same protic solvent, which was further verified by high-performance liquid chromatography. This study will help in the investigation of structural changes of benzophenanthridine alkaloids and will provide the possibility for the mutual substitution of standard substances in relevant drug testing.
In this work, the origins for the spectral difference between two isoflavones, formononetin (F) and ononin (FG), are revealed via a comparison study of the fluorescence molecular structure. The fluorescence enhancement of FG in hot alkaline conditions is reported for the first time. For F, there is almost no fluorescence under acidic conditions, but when the pH is >4.8, its fluorescence begins to increase due to the deprotonation of 7-OH. Under a pH between 9.3 and 12.0, the anionic form of F produces a strong and stable fluorescence. The fluorescence quantum yield (Yf) of F is measured to be 0.042. FG shows only weak fluorescence in aqueous solutions under a wide range of pH until it is placed in hot alkaline solutions, which is attributed to the cleavage reaction of the γ-pyrone ring in FG. The Yf of FG is determined to be 0.020. Based on the fluorescence sensitization methods of F and FG, the quantitative analysis and detection of two substances can be realized. The limit of the detections for F and FG are 2.60 ng·mL−1 and 9.30 ng·mL−1, respectively. The linear detection ranges of F and FG are 11.7~1860 ng·mL−1 and 14.6~2920 ng·mL−1, respectively. Although the structural relationship between F and FG is glycoside and aglycone, under hot alkaline conditions, the final products after the cleavage and hydrolysis reactions are essentially different. The different fluorescence characteristics between F and FG pave a way for further identification and a quantitative analysis of the corresponding components in Chinese herbal medicine.
In this work, reasons for the spectral difference between two isoflavones, Formononetin (F) and ononin (FG), are explained in the viewpoint of molecular structure through a comparison study of the fluorescence features of the two. The fluorescence enhancement of FG in hot alkaline condition is reported for the first time. For F, there was almost no fluorescence under acidic conditions, but when pH>5, its fluorescence began to increase with increasing pH due to the proton ionization of 7-OH. In the range of pH 9.3-12.0, the anion form of F produced a fairly strong and stable fluorescence with maximum excitation wavelength (λex) of 334 nm and emission wavelength (λem) of 464 nm, its fluorescence quantum yield (Yf) was measured to be 0.042. And for FG, its aqueous solution fluoresced weakly in a wide pH range until it was placed under hot alkaline conditions, which was presumed to the cleavage reaction of the γ-pyrone ring in FG by observing a significant fluorescence at λex / λem =288 / 388nm, and Yf was determined to be 0.020. The fluorescence sensitization methods of F and FG both exhibit low limits of detection (2.60 ng·mL-1, 9.30 ng·mL-1) and wide linear ranges (0.0117-1.86 μg·mL-1, 0.0146-2.92μg·mL-1). Although the structural relationship between F and FG is glycoside and aglycone, FG cannot be translated to F by glucoside hydrolysis under hot alkaline condition, the fluorescence enhancement mechanisms of the two are essentially different. The fluorescence difference between the two under different experimental conditions lays the foundation for future fluorescence quantitative analysis.
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