Integrated Countercurrent Extraction of Natural Products: A Combination of Liquid and Solid Supports

An integrated online column-switching countercurrent chromatography (CCC) with a solid-phase trapping/preconcentration interface is presented. The interface is systematically evaluated in terms of sorbent type, column size, and kinetic factor from the view of the unique CCC process. Results indicate that satisfactory trapping efficiency can be achieved using a 25 mm × 10 mm i.d. column packed with Oasis HLB materials. In addition to the analyte focusing effect, large volume injection is avoided, thereby allowing the use of totally different biphasic liquid systems to enhance the system orthogonality. The present integrated system simply combines the liquid and solid supports and is successfully applied in a one-step preparative separation of four antioxidative compounds from the ethyl acetate extract of traditional Chinese herbal medicine Rubia cordifolia L. (Rubiaceae), exhibiting great advantages in peak resolution, peak capacity, and instrument integration compared with conventional CCC separations.