Separation and purification of four chromones from radix saposhnikoviae by high-speed counter-current chromatography.

A preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) method for the isolation and purification of 1''-O-glucosylcimifugin (1), 4'-O-beta-d-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol (2), cimifugin (3) and 3'-O-glucosylhamaudol (4) from the Chinese medicinal herb radix saposhnikoviae has been successfully developed. A sample of 300 mg of crude extract was separated using ethyl acetate:n-butanol:1% aqueous acetic acid (1:4:5, v/v) as the two-phase solvent system and yielded 102.4 mg of 1 and 81.6 mg of 2. During this separation 3 and 4 remained in the stationary phase, which was collected, evaporated to dryness and separated with another two-phase solvent system involving ethyl acetate:n-butanol:1% aqueous acetic acid (5:0.5:5, v/v) to yield 31.4 mg of 3 and 12.7 mg of 4. The purities of compounds 1-4 were 98.4, 98.7, 99.3 and 98.2%, respectively, as determined by HPLC. The chemical structures of these components were established by (1)H-NMR and (13)C-NMR.