Elucidation of the chemical structures of natural antioxidants isolated from rosemary

A natural antioxidant extract with activity greater than BHA and equal to BHT was isolated from rosemary leaves. The extract was separated into 7 primary fractions with liquid chromatography, using silicic acid as an adsorbent followed by gradient elution. Each fraction was rechromatographed to yield a total of 16 subfractions. Two compounds, carnosol and ursolic acid, were identified by infrared, mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. Carnosol was shown to be one of the active antioxidant components in rosemary. Ursolic acid was not an effective antioxidant. Further fractionation of the most active antioxidant subfractions by high performance liquid chromatography and the elucidation of the chemical structures of these fractions are now in progress.