High-speed counter-current chromatography of apple procyanidins

Apple procyanidins were separated by high-speed counter-current chromatography using a type-J multilayer coil planet centrifuge. Several two-phase solvent systems with a wide range of hydrophobicities from a non-polar hexane system to polar n-butanol systems were evaluated their performance in terms of the partition coefficient and the retention of the phase. The best separation of procyanidins B and C was achieved with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-butanol–methyl tert.-butyl ether–acetonitrile–0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (2:4:3:8) using the lower phase as a mobile at a flow-rate of 1.0 ml/min.