Degradation Study of Carnosic Acid, Carnosol, Rosmarinic Acid, and Rosemary Extract (Rosmarinus officinalisL.) Assessed Using HPLC

Abstract

Rosemary, whose major caffeoyl-derived and diterpenoid ingredients are rosmarinic acid, carnosol, and carnosic acid, is an important source of natural antioxidants and is being recognized increasingly as a useful preservative, protectant, and even as a potential medicinal agent. Understanding the stability of these components and their mode of interaction in mixtures is important if they are to be utilized to greatest effect. A study of the degradation of rosmarinic acid, carnosol, carnosic acid, and a mixture of the three was conducted in ethanolic solutions at different temperatures and light exposure. As expected, degradation increased with temperature. Some unique degradation products were formed with exposure to light. Several degradation products were reported for the first time. The degradation products were identified by HPLC/MS/MS, UV, and NMR. The degradation of rosemary extract in fish oil also was investigated, and much slower rates of degradation were observed for carnosic acid. In the mixture of the three antioxidants, carnosic acid serves to maintain levels of carnosol, though it does so at least in part at the cost of its own degradation.

Comparative chemistry and biological properties of the solid residues from hydrodistillation of Spanish populations of <em>Rosmarinus officinalis</em> L.

“…Tables 2 and 3 show the chemical profile and the composition data (area percent) of the residues extracted from ten R. officinalis populations cultivated in Cuenca (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain) and Aranjuez (Madrid, Spain). The chemical composition of the rosemary solid residue was similar to that described for other R. officinalis extracts (Herrero et al, 2010;Borras-Linares et al, 2011;Navarrete et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2012;Kontogianni et al, 2013;Santana-Méridas et al, 2014). Rosmarinic acid (2), genkwanin (13), carnosol (16), epirosmanol ethyl ether/rosmarinic acid methyl ether (17) and carnosic acid (21) were the most abundant compounds tentatively identified and represented between 28% and 48% of the total area of peaks in all populations (Table 3).…”

Pharmacological perspectives from Brazilian Salvia officinalis (Lamiaceae): antioxidant, and antitumor in mammalian cells

“…Furthermore, rosmarinic acid, also found in the hydroalcoholic (ExtHS) and aqueous (ExtAS) extracts, was suggested to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in tumor cells Caco-2 and HSC T6, by down-regulating Bcl-2 and decreasing the expression of CyclinD1, inhibiting phosphorylation of STAT3, responsible for the progression and invasion of cancer (Zhang et al 2012). Other compound found in both extracts was the caffeic acid.…”

Carnosic Acid and Carnosol, Two Major Antioxidants of Rosemary, Act through Different Mechanisms

“…The LC-MS method was developed from Zhang et al (2012) and Song et al (2014). Samples were diluted in acetonitrile:water (65:35 v:v) and then analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-HRMS and MS/MS.…”