Fractionation of rosmarinic acid from crude extract of Orthosiphon stamineus by solid phase extraction

Rosmarinic acid (RA) which is the major compound of Orthosiphon stamineus possesses various pharmaceutical properties. It is about 5-10% w/w of rosmarinic acid in the ethanolic extract of the plant. In the present study, solid phase extraction (SPE) was used to fractionate the phytochemical from the crude extract of O. stamineus. The effect of different elution solvents was investigated in this paper. A C18 column with the dimension of 10mm diameter 15mm height was used for the fractionation. The solvent system of water – acetonitrile mixture showed a better separation of rosmarinic acid from O. stamineus crude extract. The results showed that the content of rosmarinic acid was increased from 10 to 27% w/w after fractionation by SPE. The finding of this study could be used to further up-scaling of rosmarinic acid fractionation in the future stud