Ginsenoside Ra3 is a chemical constituent from the root and rhizomes of panax ginseng. Ginsenoside Ra3 is one of the ginsenosides, which are considered the major active medicinal components of ginsengs.
Ginsenoside Ra3 is isolated and purified from red ginseng. Steps: 1) Red ginseng is extracted with 75% ethanol under hot reflux to give the total extract. 2) The total extract is dissolved in 5% ethanol and loaded onto a D101 macroporous resin column. Elution with 25% and then 75% ethanol is performed. The 75% eluate is collected to yield total saponins. 3) Total saponins are dissolved in 5% methanol and loaded onto an MCIGELCHP20 microporous resin column. Stepwise elution with methanol containing formic acid at different concentrations is used. Specific fractions are collected to obtain the target ginsenoside A segment. 4) Segment A is separated by high-speed counter-current chromatography using a specific solvent system. The effluent corresponding to the ginsenoside Ra3 chromatographic peak is collected based on the chromatogram, then concentrated and dried.
