Rapid purification of diastereoisomers from Piper kadsura using supercritical fluid chromatography with chiral stationary phases

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with chiral stationary phases (CSPs) is an advanced solution for the separation of achiral compounds in Piper kadsura. Analogues and stereoisomers are abundant in natural products, but there are obstacles in separation using conventional method. In this paper, four lignan diastereoisomers, (-)-Galbelgin, (-)-Ganschisandrin, Galgravin and (-)-Veraguensin, from Piper kadsura were separated and purified by chiral SFC. Purification strategy was designed, considering of the compound enrichment, sample purity and purification throughput. Two-step achiral purification method on chiral preparative columns with stacked automated injections was developed. Unconventional mobile phase modifier dichloromethane (DCM) was applied to improve the sample solubility. Four diastereoisomers was prepared at the respective weight of 103.1 mg, 10.0 mg, 152.3 mg and 178.6 mg from 710 mg extract with the purity of greater than 98%.