Isolation of Zingiberene from Ginger Essential Oil by Two-Step Intermittent Silica Gel Column Chromatography

Zingiberene, one of the five major sesquiterpene hydrocarbon which are rich in ginger essential oil, is a natural antioxidant and serves as antiviral and antifertility agent. An efficient preparative isolation process of zingiberene from ginger essential oil has been developed in the present study. The separation experiments have been carried out on an intermittent silica gel column chromatography. After the first run treatment with the chromatography, the zingiberene content in the final product was increased from 35.11% to 60.41%. Afterwards the concentration was purified by using the second silica gel column chromatography. The recovery for the combined procedure was 70.68%, with a final purity 72.93%.Therefore, the separation can be achieved easily and efficiently via the intermittent silica gel column chromatography, and the method will provided a potential approach for large-scale separation and purification of zingiberene for its wide pharmaceutical use.