Intermittent counter-current extraction as an alternative approach to purification of Chinese herbal medicine

• Published in: Journal of Chromatography A Vol. 1216; no. 19; pp. 4187 - 4192
• Main Authors: Hewitson, Peter, Ignatova, Svetlana, Ye, Haoyu, Chen, Lijuan, Sutherland, Ian
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 08.05.2009; Amsterdam; New York: Elsevier; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acetates - chemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Chinese herbal medicine; countercurrent chromatography; Countercurrent Distribution - methods; Diterpenes - isolation & purification; diterpenoids; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - isolation & purification; Enrichment; Epoxy Compounds - isolation & purification; Equipment Design; extraction; General pharmacology; herbal medicines; Hexanes - chemistry; ICcE; Intermittent counter-current extraction; Medical sciences; Methanol - chemistry; Pharmaceutical; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Phenanthrenes - isolation & purification; plant extracts; TMB; Tripterygium - chemistry; Tripterygium wilfordii; Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f; Triptolide; True moving bed; Water - chemistry; Asia; China; Enrichment; Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f; Intermittent counter-current extraction; Triptolide; TMB; Chinese herbal medicine; Pharmaceutical; True moving bed; ICcE; Chemical analysis; Tripterygium wilfordii Hook f; Chemical enrichment; Medicinal plant; Folk medicine; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Tripterygium wilfordii; Trace analysis; Terpenoid; Purification; Pharmacognosy; Celastraceae; Lactone; Plant origin; Diterpene; Isolation; Spermatophyta
• ISSN: 0021-9673; 1873-3778
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2008.12.005

This paper describes intermittent counter-current extraction, a novel method of using a conventional twin column counter-current chromatograph to either split a sample into two groups of compounds or extract and enrich a target compound from a crude extract. The first method is demonstrated by splitting a model mixture of four compounds into two groups. The second method is demonstrated by the extraction and enrichment of a high value target compound, triptolide, from a Chinese herbal medicine crude extract of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f., where it is found at low concentration (2%). This was achieved by retaining and enriching the target compound within the column while washing away all other components of the crude material. The success of the first method allowed the second method to be carried out without the need for costly preliminary experiments with the high value sample. 188 mg of triptolide at greater than 98% purity was separated from 9.2 g of crude extract, using 10 l of solvent in a 3-h separation.