Preparative separation and purification of deoxyschisandrin and γ-schisandrin from Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successfully applied to the preparative separation and purification of deoxyschisandrin and γ-schisandrin from the crude petroleum ether extracts of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. The optimum solvent system composed of n-hexane–methanol–water (35:30:3, v/v) led to the successful preparation of deoxyschisandrin and γ-schisandrin. The analysis of HPLC for each peak fraction of preparative HSCCC showed that the purity of deoxyschisandrin (8 mg) was over 98% and γ-schisandrin (12 mg) was over 96% from 100 mg of the crude petroleum ether extracts in one-step separation.