Combination of supercritical fluid extraction with counter-current chromatography to isolate anthocyanidins from the petals of Chaenomeles sinensis based on mathematical calculations

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) coupled with high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successfully used for the extraction and on-line isolation of the anthocyanidins from the petals of Chaenomeles sinensis in two stages. The SFE parameters were optimized by an orthogonal test, and the solvent systems of SFE and HSCCC were calculated and optimized with the help of a multiexponential function model. In the first stage, the lower phase of the solvent system of n-butanol/tert-butyl methyl ether/acetonitrile/0.1% aqueous TFA (0.715:1.0:0.134:1.592, v/v/v/v) was used as both the SFE modifier and the HSCCC stationary phase, after extraction, the extractants were pumped into HSCCC column, and then eluted with the corresponding upper phase to isolate the moderately hydrophobic compounds. In the second stage, the upper phase of the solvent system of n-butanol/ethyl acetate/acetonitrile/0.1% aqueous TFA (1.348:1.0:0.605:2.156, v/v/v/v) was used as both the SFE modifier and the HSCCC stationary phase, followed by elution with the corresponding lower phase to separate the hydrophobic compounds. With the help of two-stage SFE/HSCCC, six compounds including delphinidin-3-O-glucoside (Dp3G), cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (Cy3G), peonidin-3-O-glucoside (Pn3G), delphinidin (Dp), peonidin (Pn), and malvidin (Mv) were successfully separated within 300 min. The targeted compounds were identified by UV spectrophotometry, MS, and NMR spectroscopy. This research has opened up great prospects for the industrial application of SFE-HSCCC for the automatic extraction and separation of unstable compounds.