Echinacea Extract

Echinacea extract is produced from Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench, a North American member of the Asteraceae family now cultivated commercially across Europe, North America and Asia. The three Echinacea species used in trade are chemically distinct and are not interchangeable: E. purpurea is rich in the caffeic acid derivative chicoric acid (cichoric acid, C22H18O12, MW 474.37, CAS 6537-80-0) and contains no echinacoside, while E. angustifolia and E. pallida roots carry echinacoside (CAS 82854-37-3) and cynarin and are essentially free of chicoric acid. Thovek's default article is the E. purpurea aerial-part extract, standardised to not less than 4.0% total polyphenols by UV and not less than 2.0% chicoric acid by HPLC. Root, herb-and-root and higher chicoric acid grades are made to order, as are E. angustifolia root extracts specified on echinacoside. The herb is harvested at flowering, dried, milled and extracted with water and food-grade ethanol, then concentrated and spray-dried. Because Echinacea is one of the more frequently substituted botanicals in trade, identity is not left to the marker assay alone: every lot is fingerprinted by HPTLC and HPLC against authenticated E. purpurea reference material and screened for the classical substitutions with E. angustifolia, E. pallida and the root of Parthenium integrifolium, the adulterant the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program flagged again in its 2025 Echinacea bulletin. Buyers who specify to USP can be supplied against the Powdered Echinacea purpurea Extract monograph, which requires not less than 4.0% total phenols calculated as the sum of caftaric, chicoric and chlorogenic acids on the dried basis. The material is vegan and vegetarian, of plant origin only, and carries no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten or nut input; the plant is nevertheless an Asteraceae (Compositae) species, and brands should carry the customary cross-sensitivity flag for buyers who label for ragweed or daisy-family allergy. Solvent residues are held to ICH Q3C Class 2 and 3 limits and each lot ships with a certificate of analysis, MSDS, allergen and non-GMO statements. Thovek supplies composition and food-technology data only; nutrition, health or structure-function claims made on the finished pack are the brand owner's responsibility under the rules of the destination market.