Separation and purification of hydrolyzable tannin from Geranium wilfordii Maxim by reversed‐phase and normal‐phase high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Three hydrolyzable tannins, geraniin, corilagin and gallic acid, main active components of Geranium wilfordii Maxim, have been separated and purified in one‐step by both reversed‐phase and normal‐phase high‐speed counter‐current chromatography. Gallic acid, corilagin and geraniin were purified from 70% aqueous acetone extract of G. wilfordii Maxim with solvent system n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–acetic acid–water (1:10:0.2:0.2:20) by reversed‐phase high‐speed counter‐current chromatography at purities of 94.2, 91.0 and 91.3%, at yields of 89.3, 82.9 and 91.7%, respectively. Gallic acid, corilagin and geraniin were purified with solvent system n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–acetic acid–water (0.2:10:2:1:5) by normal‐phase high‐speed counter‐current chromatography at purities of 85.9, 92.2 and 87.6%, at yields of 87.4, 94.6 and 94.3%, respectively. It was successful for both reversed‐phase and normal‐phase high‐speed counter‐current chromatography to separate high‐polarity of low‐molecular‐weight substances.     

Separation and purification of four compounds from Desmodium styracifolium using off‐line two‐dimensional high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

An off‐line 2D high‐speed counter‐current chromatography technique in preparative scale has been successfully applied to separate and purify the main compounds from the ethyl acetate extract of Desmodium styracifolium. A two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water at an optimized volume ratio of 1:2:1:2 v/v/v/v was used. Conventional high‐speed counter‐current chromatography was used as the first dimension, and the upper phase of the solvent system was used as the stationary phase in the head‐to‐tail elution mode at a flow rate of 2.0 mL/min and a rotation speed of 900 rpm. Recycling high‐speed counter‐current chromatography served as the second dimension to separate an impure fraction of the first dimension. A total of four well‐separated substances including vanillic acid ( 1 ), β‐sitosterol ( 2 ), formononetin ( 3 ), and aromadendrin ( 4 ) were obtained, and their purities and structures were identified by HPLC–MS and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The results illustrated that off‐line 2D high‐speed counter‐current chromatography is an effective way to isolate compounds in complex samples.     

Separation of phenolic acids from sugarcane rind by online solid‐phase extraction with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Sugarcane rind contains some functional phenolic acids. The separation of these compounds from sugarcane rind is able to realize the integrated utilization of the crop and reduce environment pollution. In this paper, a novel protocol based on interfacing online solid‐phase extraction with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography (HSCCC) was established, aiming at improving and simplifying the process of phenolic acids separation from sugarcane rind. The conditions of online solid‐phase extraction with HSCCC involving solvent system, flow rate of mobile phase as well as saturated extent of absorption of solid‐phase extraction were optimized to improve extraction efficiency and reduce separation time. The separation of phenolic acids was performed with a two‐phase solvent system composed of butanol/acetic acid/water at a volume ratio of 4:1:5, and the developed online solid‐phase extraction with HSCCC method was validated and successfully applied for sugarcane rind, and three phenolic acids including 6.73 mg of gallic acid, 10.85 mg of p‐coumaric acid, and 2.78 mg of ferulic acid with purities of 60.2, 95.4, and 84%, respectively, were obtained from 150 mg sugarcane rind crude extracts. In addition, the three different elution methods of phenolic acids purification including HSCCC, elution–extrusion counter‐current chromatography and back‐extrusion counter‐current chromatography were compared.     

Efficient isolation and purification of five products from microbial biotransformation of cinobufagin by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

An efficient separation method of using high‐speed counter‐current chromatography was successfully established to directly purify cytotoxic transformed products of cinobufagin by Cordyceps militaris. The two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (4:6:3:4, v/v) was used in high‐speed counter‐current chromatography. A total of 9 mg of 4β,12α‐dihydroxyl‐cinobufagin ( 1 ), 15 mg of 12β‐hydroxyl‐cinobufagin ( 2 ), 8 mg of 5β‐hydroxyl‐cinobufagin ( 3 ), 12 mg of deacetylcinobufagin ( 4 ) and 6 mg of 3‐keto‐cinobufagin ( 5 ) were obtained in a one‐step separation from 400 mg of the crude extract with purity of 98.7, 97.2, 90.6, 99.1 and 99.4%, respectively, as determined by HPLC. Their chemical structures were identified on the basis of ¹H‐NMR and ¹³C‐NMR technology. All products ( 1 – 5 ) showed the potent activities against human carcinoma cervicis (Hela) and malignant melanoma (A375) cells in vitro.     

Separation of betacyanins from flowers of Amaranthus cruentus L. in a polar solvent system by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Betacyanin extract of Amaranthus cruentus L. flowers was fractionated by semi‐preparative high‐speed counter‐current chromatography in a highly polar solvent system: propan‐1‐ol/acetonitrile/(NH₄)₂SO_{4satd. soln}/H₂O (1.0:0.5:1.2:1.0, v/v/v/v) in tail‐to‐head mode with 76% retention of the stationary phase. The crude extract as well as the fractions containing betacyanins were analyzed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry as well as by high‐resolution ion‐trap time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry detection technique for the molecular formulae and multi‐step fragmentation pattern elucidation. Four betacyanins; namely, amaranthin, betanin, 6′‐O‐formyl‐amaranthin, and 6′‐O‐malonyl‐amaranthin as well as their diastereomeric forms differing in the configuration of the C‐15 carbon atom were identified in the fractions. Amaranthin was the dominant pigment in the extract and was additionally analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance correlation techniques after the counter‐current chromatographic and high‐performance liquid chromatographic isolation. Betacyanins were highly enriched during a single high‐speed counter‐current chromatographic step; therefore, the tentative identification of new compounds for the whole Amaranthaceae family, 6′‐O‐formyl‐amaranthin and 6′‐O‐malonyl‐amaranthin was possible. Different elution profiles of the pigments observed in the counter‐current chromatographic system in comparison to high‐performance liquid chromatography system confirm a complementarity of both the techniques especially in the separation of diastereomeric pairs of betacyanins.     

Preparative separation of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin from Capsicum frutescens by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin are two main bioactive components of Capsicum frutescens and are widely used as food additives and drugs in China and India. Due to their similarity in structures, isolation of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin with traditional methods such as silica gel column chromatography, normal‐phase thin‐layer chromatography (TLC) becomes difficult. This study involves separating capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin with sufficient purity and recovery using high‐speed counter‐current chromatography (HSCCC) with a solvent system composed of n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water–acetic acid (20:20:20:20:2, v/v/v/v/v). Separation parameters such as sample volume, and sample concentration were first optimized on analytical HSCCC, and then scaled up to preparative HSCCC. 0.65 g capsaicin and 0.28 g dihydrocapsaicin were obtained from 1.2 g crude extract and their purities were 98.5 and 97.8%, respectively. The recoveries of the two compounds were 86.3 and 85.4%, respectively. The purity of the isolated compounds was analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and their structures were identified by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ¹³C NMR analysis.     

Isolation and purification of prenylated phenolics from Amorpha fruticosa by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Prenylated phenolics such as amorfrutins are recently identified potent anti‐inflammatory and antidiabetic natural products. In this work, high‐speed counter‐current chromatography was investigated for the isolation and purification of prenylated phenolics from the fruits of Amorpha fruticosa by using a two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐hexane/ethanol/water (5:4:1, v/v). As a result, 14.2 mg of 5,7‐dihydroxy‐8‐geranylflavanone, 10.7 mg of amorfrutin A and 17.4 mg of amorfrutin B were obtained from 200 mg of n‐hexane‐soluble crude extract in one step within 250 min. The purities of 5,7‐dihydroxy‐8‐geranylflavanone, amorfrutins A and B were 95.2, 96.7 and 97.1%, respectively, as determined by ultra high performance liquid chromatography. The structural identification was performed by mass spectrometry and ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The results indicated that the established method is an efficient and convenient way to purified prenylated phenolics from A. fruticosa extract.     

Isolation of terpenoids from Pimpinella anisum essential oil by high‐performance counter‐current chromatography

High‐performance counter‐current chromatography was successfully used for the isolation and purification of terpenoid compounds from the essential oil of Pimpinella anisum L. A two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐heptane/methanol/ethyl acetate/water (5:2:5:2, v/v/v/v) was suitable for the purification of linalool, terpinen‐4‐ol, α‐terpineol, p‐anisaldehyde, while n‐heptane/methanol (1:1, v/v) was used for the isolation of anethole and foeniculin. A scale‐up process from analytical to preparative was developed. Additionally, a stepwise gradient elution was applied and instead of two different runs, 40 min each, one 80 min separation was performed; although the time of separation remains the same, it was possible to repeat the efficiency even if the water‐containing mobile phase was changed to a nonaqueous system. The obtained essential oil, as well as purified compounds, was analyzed by GC. A total of 0.64 mg of linalool, 0.52 mg of terpinen‐4‐ol, 0.10 mg of α‐terpineol, 0.62 mg of p‐anisaldehyde, 15 mg of anethole, and 2.12 mg of foeniculin were obtained from 210 mg of the essential oil of P. anisum L. in a short time with purities of 99, 98, 94, 93.54, 93, and 93.6%, respectively.     

Ultra‐high‐pressure‐assisted extraction of wedelolactone and isodemethylwedelolactone from Ecliptae Herba and purification by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Ultra‐high‐pressure extraction combined with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography was employed to extract and purify wedelolactone and isodemethylwedelolactone from Ecliptae Herba. The operating conditions of ultra‐high‐pressure extraction were optimized using an orthogonal experimental design. The optimal conditions were 80% aqueous methanol solvent, 200 MPa pressure, 3 min extraction time and 1:20 (g/mL) solid–liquid ratio for extraction of wedelolactone and isodemethylwedelolactone. After extraction by ultra‐high pressure, the extraction solution was concentrated and subsequently extracted with ethyl acetate; a total of 2.1 g of crude sample was obtained from 100 g of Ecliptae Herba. A two‐phase solvent system composed of petroleum ether–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (3:7:5:5, v/v) was used for high‐speed counter‐current chromatography separation, by which 23.5 mg wedelolactone, 6.8 mg isodemethylwedelolactone and 5.5 mg luteolin with purities >95% were purified from 300 mg crude sample in a one‐step separation. This research demonstrated that ultra‐high‐pressure extraction combined with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography was an efficient technique for the extraction and purification of coumestans from plant material.     

Isolation and purification of macrocyclic components from Penicillium fermentation broth by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

In this paper, high‐speed counter‐current chromatography (HSCCC), assisted with ESI‐MS, was first successfully applied to the preparative separation of three macrolide antibiotics, brefeldin A (12.6 mg, 99.0%), 7′‐O‐formylbrefeldin A (6.5 mg, 95.0%) and 7′‐O‐acetylbrefeldin A (5.0 mg, 92.3%) from the crude extract of the microbe Penicillium SHZK‐15. Considering the chemical nature and partition coefficient (K) values of the three target compounds, a two‐step HSCCC isolation protocol was developed in order to obtain products with high purity. In the two‐step method, the crude ethyl acetate extract was first fractionated and resulted in two peak fractions by HSCCC using solvent system n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (HEMWat) (3:7:5:5 v/v/v/v), then purified using solvent systems HEMWat (3:5:3:5 v/v/v/v) and HEMWat (7:3:5:5 v/v/v/v) for each fraction. The purities and structures of the isolated compounds were determined by HPLC, X‐ray crystallography, ESI‐MS and NMR. The results demonstrated that HSCCC is a fast and efficient technique for systematic isolation of bioactive compounds from the microbes.     

Separation and purification of four flavonol diglucosides from the flower of Meconopsis integrifolia by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Flavonoids are the main components of Meconopsis integrifolia (Maxim.) Franch, which is a traditional Tibetan medicine. However, traditional chromatography separation requires a large quantity of raw M. integrifolia and is very time consuming. Herein, we applied high‐speed counter‐current chromatography in the separation and purification of flavonoids from the ethanol extracts of M. integrifolia flower. Ethyl acetate/n‐butanol/water (2:3:5, v/v/v) was selected as the optimum solvent system to purify the four components, namely quercetin‐3‐O‐β‐d‐ glucopyrannosy‐(1→6)‐β‐d‐ glucopyranoside (compound 1 , 60 mg), quercetin 3‐O‐[2’’’‐O‐acetyl‐β‐d‐ glucopyranosyl‐(1→6)‐β‐d‐ glucopyranoside (compound 2 , 40 mg), quercetin 3‐O‐[3’’’‐O‐acetyl‐β‐d‐ glucopyranosyl‐(1→6)‐β‐d‐ glucopyranoside (compound 3 , 11 mg), and quercetin 3‐O‐[6’’’‐O‐acetyl‐β‐d‐ glucopyranosyl‐(1→6)‐β‐d‐ glucopyranoside (compound 4 , 16 mg). Among the four compounds, 3 and 4 were new acetylated flavonol diglucosides. After the high‐speed counter‐current chromatography separation, the purities of the four flavonol diglucosides were 98, 95, 90, and 92%, respectively. The structures of these compounds were identified by mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy.     

Preparative isolation of ganoderic acid S,ganoderic acid T and ganoderol B from Ganoderma lucidum mycelia by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Ganoderic acid S, ganoderic acid T and ganoderal B are the main bioactive triterpenes of Ganoderma lucidum. In this study, mycelia of G. lucidum were obtained by two‐stage fermentation and then extracted by ethanol and petroleum ether sequentially to obtain crude triterpenes. The crude sample was further purified by recycling high‐speed counter‐current chromatography with n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (7:12:11:5, v/v/v/v) as the optimized two‐phase solvent system. A 16.4 mg aliquot of ganoderol B with a purity of 90.4% was separated from 300 mg of the crude sample in a single run. After employing the recycling elution mode of HSCCC with n‐hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (6:10:8:4.5, v/v/v/v) for five cycles, 25.7 mg ganoderic acid T and 3.7 mg ganoderic acid S with purities of 97.8 and 83.0%, respectively, were obtained. The purities of three compounds were determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography and their chemical structures were identified by NMR and MS data.     

Separation of five oligostilbenes from Vitis amurensis by flow‐rate gradient high‐performance counter‐current chromatography

A rapid and efficient high‐performance counter‐current chromatography (HPCCC) method was developed to separate five oligostilbenes from the roots of Vitis amurensis. An n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water system (4:8:4:10, v/v/v/v) was selected as an optimal two‐phase solvent system of which the upper phase was used as the stationary phase and the lower phase was used as the mobile one. Partition coefficient values for the target compounds under these optimized conditions were 0.28 ( 1 , ampleosin A), 7.12 ( 2 , (+)‐g‐viniferin), 2.26 ( 3 , vitisin A), 5.38 ( 4 , wilsonol C), and 11.23 ( 5 , vitisin B). Flow‐rate gradient HPCCC (4 mL/min in 0–70 min, 8 mL/min in 70–250 min) was applied to isolate the target compounds in as high purity as possible within the shortest possible run time. Under these conditions, ampelopsin A (12.1 mg), (+)‐g‐viniferin (10.4 mg), vitisin A (2.8 mg), wilsonol C (3.2 mg), and vitisin B (37 mg) were isolated with >95% purity from 150 mg of enriched oligostilbene extract. Although the K_D of the last eluted compound, vitisin B (K_D = 11.23), was relatively large, it was eluted in 115–145 min using the two‐phase solvent system. This study shows that HPCCC is an efficient tool for the isolation and purification of natural products.     

Application of high‐speed counter‐current chromatography and HPLC to separate and purify of three polyacetylenes from Platycodon grandiflorum

Three polyacetylenes were isolated and purified from Platycodon grandiflorum A. DC for the first time by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography using a two‐phase solvent system composed of hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:31:1:31, v/v/v/v) and high‐performance liquid chromatography with an Agilent ZORBAX® SB‐C18 column (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm). After separation by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography and high‐performance liquid chromatography, we obtained 3.5 mg of platetyolin A, 4.1 mg of platetyolin B, and 18.1 mg of lobetyolin with purities of 97.2, 96.7, and 96.9%, respectively. The purity of each compound was assessed by high‐performance liquid chromatography and the chemical structures were evaluated by high‐resolution electrospray ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry and one‐ and two‐dimensional NMR spectroscopy. Among the isolated compounds, platetyolin A and platetyolin B are newly reported compounds.     

Isolation and purification of arctigenin from Fructus Arctii by enzymatic hydrolysis combined with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment combined with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography for the transformation and isolation of arctigenin from Fructus Arctii was successfully developed. In the first step, the extract solution of Fructus Arctii was enzymatic hydrolyzed by β‐glucosidase. The optimal hydrolysis conditions were 40°C, pH 5.0, 24 h of hydrolysis time, and 1.25 mg/mL β‐glucosidase concentration. Under these conditions, the content of arctigenin was transformed from 2.60 to 12.59 mg/g. In the second step, arctigenin in the hydrolysis products was separated and purified by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography with a two‐phase solvent system composed of petroleum ether/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (10:25:15:20, v/v), and the fraction was analyzed by HPLC, ESI‐MS, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Finally, 102 mg of arctigenin with a purity of 98.9% was obtained in a one‐step separation from 200 mg of hydrolyzed sample.     

Three‐phase solvent systems for the comprehensive separation of a wide variety of compounds from Dicranostigma leptopodum by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

A three‐phase solvent system was efficiently applied for high‐speed counter‐current chromatography to separate secondary metabolites with a wide range of hydrophobicity in Dicranostigma leptopodum. The three‐phase solvent system of n‐hexane/methyl tert‐butyl ether/acetonitrile/0.5% triethylamine (2:2:3:2, v/v/v/v) was selected for high‐speed counter‐current chromatography separation. The separation was initiated by filling the column with a mixture of intermediate phase and lower phase as a stationary phase followed by elution with upper phase to separate the hydrophobic compounds. Then the mobile phase was switched to the intermediate phase to elute the moderately hydrophobic compounds, and finally the polar compounds still retained in the column were fractionated by eluting the column with the lower phase. In this research, 12 peaks were eluted out in one‐step operation within 110 min, among them, eight compounds with acceptable purity were obtained and identified. The purities of β‐sitosterol, protopine, allocryptopine, isocorydione, isocorydine, coptisine, berberrubine, and berberine were 94.7, 96.5, 97.9, 86.6, 98.9, 97.6, 95.7, and 92.8%, respectively.     

Isolation and purification of alkaloids from the fruits of Macleaya cordata by ionic‐liquid‐modified high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Macleaya cordata (Willd) R. Br. is a medicinal plant. The most important bioactive compounds of M. cordata are alkaloids that have many biological activities including antifungal, anti‐inflammatory, and antitumor. In this study, an ionic‐liquid‐modified high‐speed counter‐current chromatography method was established to obtain alkaloids from the fruits of M. cordata. The conditions of ionic‐liquid‐modified high‐speed counter‐current chromatography, including solvent systems, the content of ionic liquid (1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [C₄mim][BF₄]), and the posttreatment of the ionic liquid, were investigated. Five alkaloids protopine, allocryptopine, sanguinarine, 8‐O‐demethylchelerythrine, and chelerythrine were separated from the extract of the fruits using a high speed counter‐current chromatography with two‐phase solvent system composed of dichloromethane/methanol/0.3 mol/L hydrochloric acid aqueous solution/[C₄mim][BF₄] (4:2:2:0.015, v/v). Their purities were 96.33, 95.56, 97.94, 96.22, and 97.90%, respectively. The results indicated that a small amount of ionic liquids as modifier of the two‐phase solvent system could shorten the separation time and improve the separation efficiency of the alkaloids from the fruits. The ionic‐liquid‐modified high‐speed counter‐current chromatography would provide a feasible way for highly effective separation of alkaloids from natural products.     

Direct from solid natural products to pure compounds in a single step: Coupling online extraction with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

Extraction is the most important step in the purification of bioactive compounds from natural products. This study introduces a simple online extraction strategy coupled with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography for efficient extraction and purification of bioactive components from solid natural products. For online extraction strategy, 1.0 g of ground Mangnolia officinalis or Piper nigrum was loaded into a guard column, which was then positioned on the manual injection valve instead of the sample loop. Bioactive components were directly extracted by the mobile phase of high‐speed counter‐current chromatography, and then transferred into high‐speed counter‐current chromatography for purification. In addition, the compatibility of the developed methodology for direct purification of bioactive components from fresh M. officinalis was successfully demonstrated. Obviously, in comparison with traditional offline heat‐reflux extraction, online extraction avoided the instrument, time, solvent, and energy consumption, and purified two phenolic compounds (honokiol and magnolol) from M. officinalis and three alkaloids (piperyline, piperine, and piperanine) from P. nigrum with high extraction efficiency. The superiority of the developed methodology is to establish an easy, rapid, and efficient technique for the purification of a wide variety of bioactive components from solid natural products.     

A consecutive preparation method based upon accelerated solvent extraction and high‐speed counter‐current chromatography for isolation of aesculin from Cortex fraxinus

A consecutive preparation method based upon accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) coupled with high‐speed counter‐current chromatography (HSCCC) was presented and aesculin was obtained from Cortex fraxinus. The extraction condition of ASE was optimized with response surface methodology; some significant parameters such as the solvent system and its stability, the amount of loading sample in HSCCC were also investigated. The original sample was first extracted with methanol at 105°C and 104 bar for 7 min using ASE, then the extracts were consecutively introduced into the HSCCC system and separated and purified with the same ethyl acetate/n‐butanol/water (7:3:10, v/v/v) solvent system for five times without further exchange and equilibrium. About 3.1 ± 0.2 mg/g in each time and total of 15.4 mg/g aesculin with purity over 95% was isolated from Cortex fraxinus. The results demonstrated that the consecutive preparation method was time and solvent saving and high throughput, it was suitable for isolation of aesculin from Cortex fraxinus, and also has good potential on the separation and purification of effective compounds from natural product.     

Separation of three phenolic high‐molecular‐weight compounds from the crude extract of Terminalia Chebula Retz. by ultrasound‐assisted extraction and high‐speed counter‐current chromatography

This study presents an efficient strategy for separation of three phenolic compounds with high molecular weight from the crude extract of Terminalia chebula Retz. by ultrasound‐assisted extraction and high‐speed counter‐current chromatography. The ultrasound‐assisted extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology and the results showed the target compounds could be well enriched under the optimized extraction conditions. Then the crude extract was directly separated by high‐speed counter‐current chromatography without any pretreatment using n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:7:0.5:3, v/v/v/v) as the solvent system. In 180 min, 13 mg of A, 18 mg of B, and 9 mg of C were obtained from 200 mg of crude sample. Their structures were identified as Chebulagic acid (A, 954 Da), Chebulinic acid (B, 956 Da), and Ellagic acid (C) by ¹H NMR spectroscopy.