Extraction and chromatographic determination of shikimic acid in Chinese conifer needles with 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ionic liquid aqueous solutions

An ionic liquids-based ultrasound-assisted extraction (iluae) method was successfully developed for extracting shikimic acid from conifer needles. eleven 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids with different cations and anions were investigated and 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide solution was selected as the solvent. the conditions for iluae,including the ionic liquid concentration,ultrasound power,ultrasound time,and liquid-solid ratio,were optimized. the proposed method had good recovery (99.37%-100.11%) and reproducibility (rsd,n = 6; 3.6%). iluae was an efficient,rapid,and simple sample preparation technique that showed high reproducibility. based on the results,a number of plant species,namely,picea koraiensis,picea meyeri,pinus elliottii,and pinus banksiana,were identified as among the best resources of shikimic acid. © 2014 fengli chen et al.