Retention behaviors of natural products in reversed-phase liquid chromatography using mobile phase comprising methanol, acetonitrile and water.
The three-component mobile phase, methanol-acetonitrile-water, has been frequently used for the separation of natural products in complicated herbal extracts by reversed-phase liquid chromatography, especially when two-component solvent systems do not work. However, the rational for optimization of this three-solvent system is not clear, so far. In this study, the retention behavior of different types of natural products in RP-LC with a methanol-acetonitrile-water elution system was studied. A total of 27 compounds from four classes, including steroids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and triterpene saponins were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry or ultraviolet detectors. It was interesting to find that prolonged retention times and improved separation capabilities were obtained when the acetonitrile-to-methanol ratio was 3-16%. This rule applied to all four classes of natural products under different instrumental conditions, and could be valuable for the separation of natural products in complicated samples.
The State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China.
Xue
X
Qiao
Min
M
Ye
Yong-Hong
YH
Liang
Wen-Zhi
WZ
Yang
De-An
DA
Guo
D000097:Acetonitriles; D001688:Biological Products / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D056148:Chromatography, Reverse-Phase / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D000432:Methanol; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000032:analysis*; D014867:Water
D000097:Acetonitriles; D001688:Biological Products; D010936:Plant Extracts; D014867:Water; D000432:Methanol; C032159:acetonitrile