Preparative separation of six antimycin A components from antimycin fermentation broth by high-speed counter-current chromatography

A method of using high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was established for preparative isolation and purification of antimycin A components from antimycin fermentation broth. Six antimycin A components were successfully purified for the first time by HSCCC with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (5:2:4:1, by volume). Total of 20 mg antimycin A4(a or b), 25 mg antimycin A3(a or b), 21 mg antimycin A8(a or b), 34 mg antimycin A2(a or b), 26 mg antimycin A1(a or b) and 34 mg antimycin A1(a or b) with the purities of 93.2, 98.6, 96.2, 94.1, 94.9 and 96.7%, respectively, determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), were yielded from 200 mg crude sample only in one HSCCC run.