Determination and isolation of anticancer compounds in medicinal plants by HPLC-MS

Medicinal plants, because of the bioactive compounds they contain, have been used for therapeutic purposes since the beginning of humanity. In this thesis, it is aimed to determine and isolate Curcumin and Resveratrol, which are popular anticancer compounds, in 5 different plant materials. In the first stage of the study, determination was carried out with HPLC-DAD device. For this purpose, plant materials were extracted in 8 different solvents and with two different extraction methods. Optimum working conditions were determined for Resveratrol and Curcumin in the measurement step, and plant extracts were analyzed under these conditions and the findings were compared. Accordingly, it was observed that Resveratrol was found mostly in the turmeric plant (26.45 µg/g), the least in the rosehip plant (0.48 µg/g), while Curcumin was found only in the turmeric plant (32.54 mg/g). In the second stage of the study, the isolation process was applied to the turmeric plant containing sufficient curcumin for isolation. The isolation process was carried out by TLC, column chromatography and preparative HPLC-UV methods. In addition, solid:solvent ratio scanning was performed for isolation and the appropriate ratio for extraction was determined. In addition to curcumin, curcumin derivatives (curcuminoids) such as demetoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin were also isolated. Structure determinations of isolated compounds were made with the help of LC-MS, UV, NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy.