Systematic and practical solvent system selection strategy based on the nonrandom two-liquid segment activity coefficient model for real-life counter-current chromatography separation

• The NRTL-SAC method is applicable to various solvent system families.
• The solute parameters obtained from HexEMWat can predict other solvent system families.
• A systematic and practical strategy based on NRTL-SAC method was proposed.
• The proposed strategy could rapidly screen a suitable solvent system.
• The strategy was validated by separating five compounds from Salvia plebeia R.Br.

Solvent system selection is the first step toward a successful counter-current chromatography (CCC) separation. This paper introduces a systematic and practical solvent system selection strategy based on the nonrandom two-liquid segment activity coefficient (NRTL-SAC) model, which is efficient in predicting the solute partition coefficient. Firstly, the application of the NRTL-SAC method was extended to the ethyl acetate/n-butanol/water and chloroform/methanol/water solvent system families. Moreover, the versatility and predictive capability of the NRTL-SAC method were investigated. The results indicate that the solute molecular parameters identified from hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water solvent system family are capable of predicting a large number of partition coefficients in several other different solvent system families. The NRTL-SAC strategy was further validated by successfully separating five components from Salvia plebeian R.Br. We therefore propose that NRTL-SAC is a promising high throughput method for rapid solvent system selection and highly adaptable to screen suitable solvent system for real-life CCC separation.