Abstract:

In order to effectively separate high-purity active components from Cassia tora L. , a high-speed countercurrent chromatography （HSCCC） procedure was performed to separate five monomers from the acetic ether extraction of the plant. The procedure was performed in a two-phase solvent system at a flow rate of 2.0mL/min. The stationary phase is the upper phase of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-ethanol-water （in a volume ratio of 5： 3： 6： 6）. The gradient elution of mobile phase is from the lower phase of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-ethanol-water （in a volume ratio of 5 ： 3： 6： 6） to the lower phase of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-ethanol-water （ in a volume ratio of 5： 3： 5： 7 ）. According to the physicochemical properties and the spectral data of MS, 1HNMR and ^13CNMR, the five separated components were identified as aurantio-obtusin （ Ⅰ ）, chryso-obtusin （Ⅱ）, obtusin （Ⅲ）, physcion （Ⅳ） and emodin （ Ⅴ ）. Moreover, 90. 42, 45.39, 31.84, 121.71 and 39. 10 mg of the five components were respectively separated from 500mg of crude extract, with the purities of 97.4%, 93.0%, 94. 8%, 96.3% and 95.5% and the recoveries of 91.5%, 96.7%, 93.3%, 95.6% and 98.4%, respectively.

Key words: Cassia tora L, high-speed countercurrent chromatography, active component , separation, purifica-tion, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance