Automated technology for purification of active ingredients in natural products

描述（由申请人提供）：复杂天然混合物的分析在CAM和涉及天然产品和其他复杂生物/化学样品的其他生物医学研究中提出了重大的科学挑战，特别是当需要纯化次要成分时。由于这个原因，它的高负载能力和选择性使逆流色谱（CCC）成为天然产物研究中有价值的工具。CCC是一种低压分离技术，不含固体吸附剂，可提供沿着的温和分馏，样品回收率为100%。此外，其节约使用的消耗品使CCC高度经济，无论是环境和健康。不幸的是，利用CCC技术可能具有挑战性，因为它涉及多组件系统的手动操作。成功使用CCC需要专门的培训和丰富的经验。自动化，就像它对许多其他技术一样，可以有效地减轻这种负担。然而，迄今为止，其专栏的动态性质所带来的挑战阻碍了这种发展。该STTR项目的第一阶段将通过以下方式应对这些挑战：（1）探索典型CCC仪器的液体固定相损失，（2）考虑所需电子和传感的成本和效益，然后（3）构建有效的仪器以测试最终的可行性。基于这些结果，该项目的长期目标和最终可销售的产品将是一个功能齐全的按钮CCC控制器。这种机器不仅能为受过最低限度培训的用户提供CCC的全部分离能力，而且还能大大提高有经验的用户目前的能力。自动化CCC将为NIH的目标做出重大贡献，进一步提高生物医学研究人员寻求治愈人类疾病的能力。具体而言，该项目的成功将通过其应用于常用膳食补充剂中存在的生物活性植物化学物质的纯化和研究来证明，并显示出对抗结核病的希望。 公共卫生相关性：天然材料的有效化学分离是生物医学研究的基本组成部分。拟议项目旨在进一步开发这项技术，使其功能更强大，更高效，更易于使用和更经济。其结果将为研究人员提供更好的获取所需材料的途径，提高他们的生产力，从而更快地发现对人类健康有益的化学物质。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The analysis of complex natural mixtures presents a significant scientific challenge in CAM and other biomedical studies involving natural products and other complex bio/chemical samples, particularly when the need for purification of minor constituents arises. For this reason, its high loading capacity and selectivity has made countercurrent chromatography (CCC) a valuable tool in natural products research. CCC is a low-pressure separation technique, free of solid adsorbents, which provides gentle fractionation along with 100% sample recovery. Further, its frugal use of consumables makes CCC highly economical, both environmentally and fiscally. Unfortunately, utilizing CCC technology can be challenging, as it involves the manual operation of a multi-component system. Successful use of CCC requires specialized training and considerable experience. Automation, as it has for many other technologies, could effectively mitigate this burden. However, to date, challenges imposed by the dynamic nature of its column has prevented such development. Phase I of this STTR project will address these challenges by (1) exploring liquid stationary phase loss of typical CCC instruments, (2) considering the costs and benefits of required electronics and sensing, then (3) constructing an effective apparatus for testing ultimate feasibility. Based on these results, the long-term objective of this project and the ultimate marketable product will be a fully functional push-button CCC controller. Such a machine will not only provide the full separation power of CCC to minimally trained users, but also significantly enhance current capabilities available to experienced users. Automated CCC will provide a significant contribution to the goals of NIH, furthering the capabilities of biomedical researchers in their search to cure human disease. Specifically, the success of this project will be demonstrated by its application to the purification and study of bioactive phytochemicals present in commonly used dietary supplements and that show promise in the fight against tuberculosis. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Effective chemical separation of natural materials is a fundamental part of biomedical research. The proposed project aims to further develop this technology, making it more functional, efficient, easy to use, and economical. The result will provide researchers with improved access to the materials they require, increasing their productivity, and therefore providing faster discovery of chemistry with benefits for human health.