Rapid and efficient purification of chrysophanol in Rheum Palmatum LINN by supercritical fluid extraction coupled with preparative liquid chromatography in tandem

Chrysophanol has high pharmaceutical values. However, it was difficult to use the traditional extraction method to extract high-concentration chrysophanol. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to purify and separate chrysophanol in traditional herb, Rheum Palmatum LINN, by using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (P-HPLC) for rapid and large-scale isolation. The method is efficient for selective extraction of chrysophanol from the herbs, which have complex compositions. The extraction efficiency of chrysophanol with SFE is 25× higher than that of boiled water extraction under the same extraction time. The optimal conditions for SFE were 210 atm and 85 °C for 30 min; for P-HPLC, a C18 column was used with a gradient elution of methanol and 1% acetic acid at a flow rate of 10 mL/min. According to 1H NMR and LC–MS analyses, the purity of the isolated chrysophanol was as high as 99%. The recovery for chrysophanol in Rheum after SPE/PHPLC processing was in the range of 88–91.5%. Compared with other extraction and purification methods, the sequential system (SFE/P-HPLC) achieved the highest amount of extracted chrysophanol from Rheum Palmatum LINN (0.38 mg/g) and the shortest run time (3 h). Hence, this rapid and environmentally friendly method can separate compounds based on polarity with high efficiencies and, coupled with P-HPLC, it may be applicable in the large-scale production of foods and medicines in the future.

► We have developed a SPE/P-HPLC system to purify chrysophanol in large quantities.
► The recovery of chrysophanol in the system was in the range of 88–91.5%.
► The purity of the isolated chrysophanol was as high as 99%.
► The SFE/P-HPLC system can isolate non-polar compounds for safer medicines.