Isolation and purification of cordycepin from fruiting bodies of Cordyceps militaris cultivated in Vietnam

Abstract

Cordycepin (3’-deoxyadenosine) is the major bioactive compound found in the medicinal fungus Cordyceps militaris.  This nucleoside analog is not only considered an important chemical marker for evaluating the quality and authenticity of C.militaris products, but also possesses significant potential for pharmaceutical applications. However, previously reported methods for cordycepin purification tend to be technically complex, time-consuming, costly, and inefficient. This study successfully developed and optimized a simple and efficient procedure for the isolation and purification of cordycepin from artificially cultivated C. militaris fruiting bodies. The optimised protocol involves a combination of solvent extraction, normal-phase column chromatography, and impurity removal through selective precipitation. This integrated approach allows for the recovery of cordycepin with high purity, which was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and comparison with reference data. The optimized process provided a substantial isolation yield and demonstrated potential for improving cordycepin recovery compared with selected previously reported methods. Our protocol provides a practical and scalable solution with potential applications in the pharmaceutical development of this promising compound.