Applications of counter-current chromatography in organic synthesis purification of heterocyclic derivatives of lapachol

This work describes the application of counter-current chromatography (CCC) as a useful, fast and economic alternative for the isolation and purification of heterocyclic derivatives from lapachol and β-lapachone, two naturally occurring compounds from Tabebuia species, and nor-β-lapachone, a synthetic congener of lapachol. The discussed data comprise four examples of purification of synthetic reactions with different solvent systems—the mixture of the oxazole and the imidazole from β-lapachone; the quinoxaline from nor-β-lapachone; and the purification of the N-oxides from the quinoxaline and the phenazine from nor-β-lapachone from their respective not fully reacted substrates by means of aqueous reversed- and normal-phase elution modes and non-aqueous solvent systems. Traditional purification of these reaction products by silica gel column chromatography demanded a large amount of solvent and time and, in some cases, serious degradation of the products occurred, leading to low yield of the reaction. High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was used as an alternative to optimize the process and raise the yield of the reactions.