Separation of Chemical Compounds in Vitex negundo L.by Preparative High-speed Counter-current Chromatography

Preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography(HSCCC) and high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) were employed firstly to separate chemical compounds in Vitex negundo L..The procedure was performed in a two-phase solvent system of chloroform-methanol-water(4 ∶ 3 ∶ 2,by volume) at a flow rate of 2.0 mL·min-1 by normal phase elution,in which the upper phase was the stationary phase and the lower phase was the mobile phase.The sample concentration was 20 g·L-1,while the rotation speed was 850 r·min-1 and the eluate was detected at 254 nm.Five compounds were obtained from the crude extract of the plant in a simultaneous process,which,according to their physical and chemical properties,were identified as:vitexin(Ⅰ),casticin(Ⅱ),3,5-di-O-caffeylquinic acid(Ⅵ),luteolin(Ⅶ),luteolin-7-O-β-D-glucoside(Ⅷ).The purities of the five compounds were 98.0%,92.3%,96.8%,97.4%and 90.3%,respectively.