Quantitative (1)H NMR method for hydrolytic kinetic investigation of salvianolic acid B

This work presents an exploratory study for monitoring the hydrolytic process of salvianolic acid B (Sal B) in low oxygen condition using a simple quantitative (1)H NMR (Q-NMR) method. The quantity of the compounds was calculated by the relative ratio of the integral values of the target peak for each compound to the known amount of the internal standard trimethylsilyl propionic acid (TSP). Kinetic runs have been carried out on different initial concentrations of Sal B (5.00, 10.0, 20.0mg/mL) and temperatures of 70, 80, 90°C. The effect of these two factors during the transformation process of Sal B was investigated. The hydrolysis followed pseudo-first-order kinetics and the apparent degradation kinetic constant at 80°C decreased when concentration of Sal B increased. Under the given conditions, the rate constant of overall hydrolysis as a function of temperature obeyed the Arrhenius equation. Six degradation products were identified by NMR and mass spectrometric analysis. Four of these degradation products, i.e. danshensu (DSS), protocatechuic aldehyde (PRO), salvianolic acid D (Sal D) and lithospermic acid (LA) were further identified by comparing the retention times with standard compounds. The advantage of this Q-NMR method was that no reference compounds were required for calibration curves, the quantification could be directly realized on hydrolyzed samples. It was proved to be simple, convenient and accurate for hydrolytic kinetic study of Sal B.