Rapid isolation and purification of 1-cyano-2-hydroxy-3-butene (crambene) from Crambe abyssinica seed meal using immiscible solvent extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography

1-Cyano-2-hydroxy-3-butene (crambene) is a nitrile found in cruciferous veg etables that causes significant upregulation of quinone reductase and gluta thione S-transferases in vivo and in vitro, making it a likely candidate as a cancer chemopreventive compound. To investigate further the putative ant icarcinogenic mechanisms of crambene, a compound of the highest possible pu rity is vital. Therefore, a rapid and effective method of purification of c rambene is necessary to continue studies of its beneficial health effects. A rapid method to isolate and purify natural crambene from either Crambe ab yssinica (crambe) seed or commercially processed crambe seed meal was devel oped using immiscible solvent extraction followed by high-performance liqui d chromatography. Use of this methodology eliminated the need for time-cons uming and relatively inefficient column chromatography, improved extraction efficiency, and resulted in higher purity than previously used methodologi es. Elimination of trace amounts of fatty acid residues, unachievable with previous methodologies, also was accomplished.