Schinus terebinthifolius countercurrent chromatography (Part III): Method transfer from small countercurrent chromatography column to preparative centrifugal partition chromatography ones as a part of method development

•Innovative study on method transfer from a small CCC to preparative CPC.•Fractionation methodology for S. terebinthifolius berries extract used as a case study.•Mobile phase linear velocity is suggested as a transfer invariant parameter.

Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) and centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) are support free liquid-liquid chromatography techniques sharing the same basic principles and features. Method transfer has previously been demonstrated for both techniques but never from one to another. This study aimed to show such a feasibility using fractionation of Schinus terebinthifolius berries dichloromethane extract as a case study. Heptane − ethyl acetate − methanol −water (6:1:6:1, v/v/v/v) was used as solvent system with masticadienonic and 3β-masticadienolic acids as target compounds. The optimized separation methodology previously described in Part I and II, was scaled up from an analytical hydrodynamic CCC column (17.4 mL) to preparative hydrostatic CPC instruments (250 mL and 303 mL) as a part of method development. Flow-rate and sample loading were further optimized on CPC. Mobile phase linear velocity is suggested as a transfer invariant parameter if the CPC column contains sufficient number of partition cells.