Preparative separation of chromones in plant extract of Saposhnikovia divaricata by high-performance counter-current chromatography.

Four chromones, prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, 4'-O-β-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, cimifugin and sec-O-glucosylhamaudol, were isolated and purified from Saposhnikovia divaricata for the first time by high-performance counter-current chromatography (HPCCC) using a system consisting of ethyl acetate/n-butanol/ethanol/water (1:1:0.1:2, v/v/v/v). The separation parameters were first performed on the analytical HPCCC and the optimized conditions were then scaled up to preparative HPCCC.