Isolation and purification of coumarin compounds from Cortex fraxinus by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successfully used for the isolation and purification of coumarin compounds from Cortex fraxinus, the Chinese herbal drug. n-Butanol–methanol–0.5% acetic acid (5:1.5:5, v/v) was used as the two-phase solvent system. 14.3 mg of fraxin, 26.5 mg of aesculin, 5.8 mg of fraxetin and 32.4 mg of aesculetin with the purity of 97.6, 99.5, 97.2 and 98.7%, respectively were obtained from 150 mg of crude extracts of C. fraxinus in a single run. The structures of the isolated compounds were identified by 1H NMR and 13C NMR.