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Updated: Nov 30, 2025
A Customizable Approach for the Enzymatic Production and Purification of Diterpenoid Natural Products
Published on: October 4, 2019
Novel enzymatic elimination method for the chromatographic purification of ginsenoside Rb3 in an isomeric mixture
Chang-Hao Cui1,2, Yaoyao Fu1, Byeong-Min Jeon3
1The Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plant of Jiangsu Province, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Background:
The separation of isomeric compounds from a mixture is a recurring problem in chemistry and phytochemistry research. The purification of pharmacologically active ginsenoside Rb3 from ginseng extracts is limited by the co-existence of its isomer Rb2. The aim of the present study was to develop an enzymatic elimination-combined purification method to obtain pure Rb3 from a mixture of isomers.
Methods:
To isolate Rb3 from the isomeric mixture, a simple enzymatic selective elimination method was used. A ginsenoside-transforming glycoside hydrolase (Bgp2) was employed to selectively hydrolyze Rb2 into ginsenoside Rd. Ginsenoside Rb3 was then efficiently separated from the mixture using a traditional chromatographic method.
Results:
Chromatographic purification of Rb3 was achieved using this novel enzymatic elimination-combined method, with 58.6-times higher yield and 13.1% less time than those of the traditional chromatographic method, with a lower minimum column length for purification. The novelty of this study was the use of a recombinant glycosidase for the selective elimination of the isomer. The isolated ginsenoside Rb3 can be used in further pharmaceutical studies.
Conclusions:
Herein, we demonstrated a novel enzymatic elimination-combined purification method for the chromatographic purification of ginsenoside Rb3. This method can also be applied to purify other isomeric glycoconjugates in mixtures.
