Separation of flavonoids from Millettia griffithii with high-performance counter-current chromatography guided by anti-inflammatory activity

An overview of recent progress in solvent systems, additives and modifiers of counter current chromatography

Solvent systems are critical to counter current chromatography (CCC). Appropriate additives and modifiers can be used to improve the separation efficiency of CCC.

Separation of caffeoylquinic acids and flavonoids from Asteris souliei by high-performance counter-current chromatography and their anti-inflammatory activity in vitro

Eleven compounds were successfully separated from Asteris souliei by using a two-step high-performance counter-current chromatography method. The first step involved a reversed phase isocratic counter-current chromatography separation using hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:0.8:1:1 v/v/v/v), which produced three fractions, the first two of which were mixtures. The second step used step-gradient reversed-phase counter-current chromatography with hexane/butanol/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:0.5:3.5:1:4 v/v/v/v/v) initially followed by hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:2:1:2 v/v/v/v) to separate Fraction 1 into seven compounds; and hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:1:1:1.2 v/v/v/v) to separate Fraction 2 into three further compounds. The chemical structures of the separated compounds were identified by ESI-MS and NMR spectroscopy (¹ H and ¹³ C). Baicalin (5), eriodictyol (7), apigenin-7-glycoside (8), quercetin (9), luteolin (10), and apigenin (11) showed obvious inhibitory effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in RAW264.7 cells at a concentration of 10 μg/mL.

Tracing novel hemostatic compounds from heating products of total flavonoids in Flos Sophorae by spectrum-effect relationships and column chromatography

Flos Sophorae and its processed product have been clinically used to treat hemorrhage. In this study, the total ion chromatographic fingerprints of the heating products of total flavonoids in Flos Sophorae were established by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry and the hemostatic activities were studied by hemostatic screening tests in vivo. The spectrum-effect relationships between fingerprints and hemostatic activities were investigated using canonical correlation analysis to trace the peaks responsible for the hemostatic effects. The predicted active peaks in fingerprints were isolated by column chromatography and their structures were identified by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The hemostatic activities of them were verified by platelet aggregation and procoagulation assays in vitro. Canonical correlation analysis results showed that peak 8 and peak 11 were correlated most closely, thus probably being the main hemostatic compounds. Through column chromatography separation, peak 8 (compound I) and peak 11 (compound II) were obtained with purities of 95.61 and 93.38%, respectively, and were discovered new hemostatic compounds named as huaicarbon A (I) and huaicarbon B (II), respectively. This study provides a universal model to trace the active compounds of other herbs which have bioactivity enhancement after processing by spectrum-effect relationships and column chromatography.