Determination of the extractive content of western redcedar by liquid–liquid fractionation and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis
| Authors: | Brett Hinkforth, Gabriel Epstein, Phoebe Wagner, Doreen Mann, Roderquita Moore |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Type: | Research Note |
| Station: | Forest Products Laboratory |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.2737/FPL-RN-424 |
| Source: | FPL-RN-424 |
Abstract
Many durable wood species contain extractives with biologically active chemical components that have potential to be used for the development of pharmaceuticals. For this study, extractive compounds from western redcedar (Thuja plicata) were separated by their relative polarities using liquid–liquid fractionation and characterized through gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS). Fractionation was successful at separating the components of western redcedar in a consistent manner, and GC–MS was able to identify the presence of various terpenoid compounds, primarily nezukone and thujaplicins. Most of the compounds were in low concentrations, and broad peaks were observed, which indicates that more resolving power is needed to further characterize the compounds in the fractions. Four compounds were identified in low concentration, including alpha and gamma eudesmols, which are known for having pharmaceutical effects on tumor activity. These compounds will be further investigated and the fractions characterized utilizing two-dimensional GC time of flight mass spectrometry.