Chromatography of tannins. IV. Separation of labile oligomeric hydrolysable tannins and related polyphenols by centrifugal partition chromatography

Using centrifugal partition chromatography for the separation and purification of oligomeric hydrolysable tannins extracted from Heterocentron roseum, a labile trimer, nobotanin J, which was readily decomposed into a monomer and dimer(s) on a gel column chromatographic solid support, and a more polar tetramer, nobotanin K, were efficiently purified by normal- and reversed-phase developments using the solvent system n-butanol-n-propanol-water (4:1:5, v/v/v). Licochalcone B, a polyphenol having tannin-like activity, was also separated from other components with related structures in Sinkiang licorice extract by centrifugal partition chromatography with normal-phase development using chloroform-methanol-water (7:13:8, v/v/v) as the solvent system.