Applications of high-speed counter-current chromatography for the separation and isolation of natural products

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) with a Ito multi-layer coil separator-extractor was applied to perform efficient separations of natural products and to isolate pure compounds from crude plant extracts. The high performance of the system was demonstrated in the separation and purification of natural antioxidants from rosemary and sage extracts, bitter principles from hops and aromarelevant constituents, such as phthalides, from celery and parsley roots. In addition, the evaluation of a gas chromatographic-compatibel non-aqueous solvent system, suitable for the separation of flavour exracts, is described.