Isolation and purification of diarylheptanoids from Alpinia officinarum Hance by high-speed counter-current chromatography

Three diarylheptanoids were isolated and purified from Alpinia officinarum Hance by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). A two-phase solvent system composed of hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (2: 3: 1.75: 1, v/v/v/v) was used. The lower phase was used as the stationary phase. From 122.20 mg petroleum ether extract of A. officinarum, 5R-hydroxy-7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl )-1-phenyl-3-heptanone (7.37 mg), 7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1-phenyl-4E-en-3-heptanone (9.11 mg) and 1,7-diphenyl-4E-en-3-heptanone (15.44 mg) with purities over 93% were obtained within 140 min in one-step separation by HSCCC under the conditions of a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min and 858 r/min. The obtained compounds were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography to provide their purities, and their structures were confirmed by using mass spectrometry, 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) and 13C-NMR. The established HSCCC method is relatively simple, fast and suitable for the isolation and purification of diarylheptanoids from A. officinarum.