APPLICATION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE COUNTER-CURRENT CHROMATOGRAPHY AND MEDIUM-PRESSURE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR RAPID ISOLATION OF LACTONES FROM <i>LIGUSTICUM CHUANXIONG</i> HORT.

<div><p>The root of <i>Ligusticum chuanxiong</i> Hort. is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine for treating headaches, ischemic stroke, anemia, and cerebral vascular disease. High-performance counter-current chromatography was applied to the isolation and purification of four lactones: 75.8 mg senkyunolide A, 3.5 mg levistolide A, 76.3 mg Z-ligustilide, and 0.8 mg wallichilide from 600 mg of the n-hexane extract of chuanxiong. Medium-pressure liquid chromatography was applied to the isolation and purification of one phthalide and two lactones: 2.9 mg chuanxingol, 11.3 mg senkyunolide A, and 20.1 mg Z-ligustilide from 800 mg of 60% ethanol extract of chuanxiong. The system composed of n-hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water in a volume ratio of 4:3:4:2 (<i>v/v</i>) was found to be optimum for HPCCC. The solvent system consisted of acetonitrile (A)−0.5% acetic acid (B) was used for MPLC, the binary gradient elution as follows: 0–40 min, 13%–100% A; and 40–50 min, 100% A. The target components separated by HPCCC and MPLC had higher purity determined by HPLC. The chemical structures of the target components were identified by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS).</p>