Rapid detection and subsequent isolation of bioactive constituents of crude plant extracts

Rapid detection of biologically active natural products plays a strategical role in the phytochemical investigation of crude plant extracts. In order to perform an efficient screening of the extracts, both biological assays and HPLC analysis with various detection methods are used. Combined techniques such as HPLC coupled to UV photodiode array detection (LC/UV) and to mass spectrometry (LC/MS or LC/MS/MS) provide useful structural information on the metabolites on-line prior to isolation. The recent introduction of HPLC coupled to nuclear magnetic resonance (LC/NMR) represents a powerful complement to the LC/UV/MS screening. Various plants belonging to the Gentianaceae and Leguminosae families have been analysed by LC/UV, LC/MS, LC/MS/MS, and LC/NMR. The use of all these coupled techniques allows the structural determination of known plant constituents rapidly and with only a minute amount of plant material. With such an approach, the time-consuming isolation of common natural products is avoided and an efficient targeted isolation of compounds presenting interesting chemical or biological features can be performed.