Over millions of years of herbivore co-evolutionary pressure, sagebrush has evolved to produce a large variety of chemical defenses—compounds that help the plant thrive in competitive habitats and harsh environments. One such class of compounds are sesquiterpene lactones (SQLs), a toxic plant secondary metabolite that deters herbivores from browsing on the sagebrush. SQLs exhibit anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and antimicrobial activity; and have shown promise in drug development. In this study, SQLs extracted from whole sagebrush leaves with chloroform were separated using thin-layer-chromatography (TLC) and visualized using a sulfuric acid spray. Overall, 32 sesquiterpene lactones were isolated from five species of sagebrush native to Idaho, and preparative TLC was used to purify individual SQLs for identification. The variety of SQL’s expressed in sagebrush may serve as a resource for future <i>in vitro </i>investigation into the pharmacologic potential of these compounds.  <br/>

Isolation and purification of sesquiterpene lactones in sagebush

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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