Facile optimization for chromatographic separation of liquiritin and liquiritigenin

A reversed phase chromatographic system, composed of a stationary phase of C18 silica gel (ODS, 20 μm) and a mobile phase of ethanol/water, was used to separate liquiritin and liquiritigenin in the raw material of flavonoids. The linear adsorption isotherm and the equilibrium-dispersive model were adopted to approximatively describe the chromatographic separation behaviors of liquiritin and liquiritigenin in the raw material under different column temperatures, ethanol contents and flow rates of the mobile phase, sample concentrations and feeding times. Combined with orthogonal design, the ED model was used to optimize the chromatographic separating conditions, the corresponding experimental result with a good agreement was obtained and the overload separation was realized.