Isolation, purification, and partial characterization of prunellin, an anti-HIV component from aqueous extracts of Prunella vulgaris.

Prunellin, an anti-HIV active compound, was isolated from aqueous extracts of the Chinese medicinal herb, Prunella vulgaris, and purified to chromatographic homogeneity. Infrared and NMR spectroscopy identified prunellin as a polysaccharide. Elemental analyses, precipitation with calcium(II), barium(II), or 9-aminoacridine suggest a sulfated polysaccharide. Paper chromatography of the exhaustively hydrolyzed material indicates the presence of glucose, galactose, xylose, gluconic acid, galactonic acid and galactosamine as the constituent monosaccharides. The molecular size of prunellin, as determined by gel permeation chromatography and the Squire method on Sephadex G-75, is about 10 kDa.