Rapid and Preparative Separation of Polyphenols From Pods of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. By Elution-Extrusion Counter-Current Chromatography Coupled With Inner-Recycling Mode

Abstract

Pods of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. are a good source of natural plants and have drawn a lot of interest in order to increase their overall utility value. In this study, elution-extrusion counter-current chromatography coupled with inner-recycling mode was used to successfully extract the polyphenols from Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. pods. Eight compounds, including (1) methyl gallate, (2) 1,2,3,4, 6-trigalloyl-β-d-glucose, (3) methyl digallate (meta- and para- isomers), (4) 4-O-digalloyl-1,2,3,6-tetra-O- galloyl-β-d-glucose, (5) 3-O-digalloyl-1,2,3,6-tetra-O-galloyl-β-d-glucose, (6) (+)-ε-viniferin, (7) amurensin B and (8) gnetin H, were effectively isolated. Structural characterization was performed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry and mass spectrometry. Based on our research, the developed process was a successful way to separate the polyphenols with a broad and similar partition coefficient from pods of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. It could be used to separate the polyphenols from complicated natural products with the established method.