Rapid and Preparative Separation of Polyphenols From Pods of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. By Elution‐Extrusion Counter‐Current Chromatography Coupled With Inner‐Recycling Mode

ABSTRACT Pods of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. are a good source of natural plants and have drawn a lot of interest in order to increase their overall utility value. In this study, elution‐extrusion counter‐current chromatography coupled with inner‐recycling mode was used to successfully extract the polyphenols from Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. pods. Eight compounds, including (1) methyl gallate, (2) 1,2,3,4, 6‐trigalloyl‐ β ‐ d ‐glucose, (3) methyl digallate (meta‐ and para‐ isomers), (4) 4‐ O ‐digalloyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetra‐ O ‐ galloyl‐ β ‐ d ‐glucose, (5) 3‐ O ‐digalloyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetra‐ O ‐galloyl‐ β ‐ d ‐glucose, (6) (+)‐ ε ‐viniferin, (7) amurensin B and (8) gnetin H, were effectively isolated. Structural characterization was performed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry and mass spectrometry. Based on our research, the developed process was a successful way to separate the polyphenols with a broad and similar partition coefficient from pods of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. It could be used to separate the polyphenols from complicated natural products with the established method.