Application of preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography for isolation and separation of schizandrin and gomisin A from Schisandra chinensis

Following an initial cleaning-up step on the D101 macroporous resin, a preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (1:0.9:0.9:1, v/v) was used to isolate and separate schizandrin and gomisin A from Schisandra chinensis. A total of 107 mg schizandrin and 36 mg gomisin A with purities of 99.5% and 99.1% were obtained from 400 mg crude extract in one-step elution and less than 3 h, and the structure identification was performed by UV, IR, MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR.