Separation and Purification of Epimedin A, B, C, and Icariin from the Medicinal Herb Epimedium brevicornum Maxim by Dual-Mode HSCCC

Epimedium brevicornum Maxim is a famous medicin al herb which has been widely used for the treatment of impotence , infertility, osteoporosis , cardiovascular diseases, amnesia, and senile functional diseases. A dual-mode high-speed counter-current chromatograph ic method is developed for the separation and purification of four bioactive flavonoid s from the medicinal herb Epimedium brevicornum Maxim . The crude flavonoid s are obtained by extraction with ethyl acetate and ethanol from the dried aerial parts of Epimedium brevicornum Maxim under sonication. Highspeed counter-current chromatography with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-butanol‐ethyl acetate‐water ( 3:7:10 , v/v) is performed using a dual-mode method , which yield s 3.2 mg of epimedin A at a purity of 98.2%, 5.5 mg of epimedin B at a purity of 92.6%, 12.7 mg of epimedin C at a purity of 90.4% , and 42.9 mg of icariin at a purity of 96.8% based on the HPLC analysis . The recoveries are 95.2 %, 89 .4%, 91 .1%, and 94.8 %, respectively. The isolation of these flavonoids in adequate amounts makes them readily available for structure-activity relationship studies and for quality control of the herbal medicine.