Octoxynol presence in bear-bile

Abstract

The presence of octoxynol from dried bear-bile was examined. Octoxynol was coextracted when glycolipids by Folch-Suzuki partition method. Octoxynol formed mixed-micelles with glycosphingolipids. The glycolipids were purified by DEAE-Sephadex A-25 column chromatography. The fractions containing mixed micelles were obtained from linear gradient solvent of 0.05M-0.5M ammonium acetate in methanol. HPLC (Bondapak-NH2 - linked to a Bondapak-C18 column) chromatogram showed five peaks. Two possible structures for the fourth peak fraction were proposed as (CH3)3C-CH2-C(CH3)2-C6H4-OR and (CH3)3C-C(CH3)2-CH2-C6H4-OR by NMR spectroscopy. The structure was further confirmed by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (ESI MS/MS). The spectrum showed a protonated molecule at m/z 559 and three different series of ions with mass difference of 44 were detected in the MS/MS spectrum. Therefore, the structure of the fourth peak fraction from HPLC was confirmed as octoxynol, (CH3)3C-CH2-C(CH3)2-C6H4-(OCH2-CH2)n-OH, based on mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy.