The highly prized medical fungus Cordyceps militaris, known in Viet Nam as Dong Trung Ha Thao, is nowadays successfully domesticated and cultivated on artificial solid media. Apart from the fruiting bodies as the main product, the spent solid medium is also considered valuable due to its high content of the bioactive compounds cordycepin and adenosine. | Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology 56 (4A) (2018) 221-228 EXTRACTION OF ADENOSINE AND CORDYCEPIN FROM SPENT SOLID MEDIUM OF CORDYCEPS MILITARIS CULTURE Nguyen Tien Thanh*, Le Thi Lan Chi, Do Thi Thu Ha, La Thi Quynh Nhu, Tran Thi Phuong Thao, Truong Quoc Phong, Khuat Huu Thanh Center for Research and Development in Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, 1 Dai Co Viet road, Ha Noi * Email: Received: 5 September 2018; Accepted for publication: 7 October 2018 ABSTRACT The highly prized medical fungus Cordyceps militaris, known in Viet Nam as Dong Trung Ha Thao, is nowadays successfully domesticated and cultivated on artificial solid media. Apart from the fruiting bodies as the main product, the spent solid medium is also considered valuable due to its high content of the bioactive compounds cordycepin and adenosine. In this study, with the aim to obtain concentrates of bioactive compounds from this material within a practical time, several methods of extraction were studied using ethanol as solvent and with and without the support of heat and ultrasound. It was shown that, by using ethanol 50 % as solvent, adenosine and cordycepin could be effectively extracted at 65 oC in 6 hours. By vacuum evaporation, the concentration of the active compounds was increased 10 times, while high recovery yield was obtained, facilitating further usage as dietary supplements. Keywords: Cordyceps millitaris R6, extraction, cordycepin, adenosine. 1. INTRODUCTION Cordyceps militaris, a member of Ascomycota, is a parasite of insect’s larval stage, forming fruiting bodies expanding outside the insect larvae or pupae [1-3]. C. militaris have been known for long time as a valuable folk medicine, especially in East Asia [1-3]. C. militaris polysaccharides and other bioactive compound such as adenosine and cordycepin (3′deoxyadenosine) have been proven to have antitumor activities against .
