Separation of two major chalcones from Angelica keiskei by high-speed counter-current chromatography.

Angelica keiskei (Shin-sun cho) is an edible higher plant with the beneficial preventive effects on cancer, hypertension, and coronary heart disease. Two bioactive chalcones of Shin-sun cho, xanthoangelol (1) and 4-hydroxyderricin (2), were separated simultaneously by using high-speed counter-current chromatography with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-EtOAc-MeOH-H2O (9:5:9:4). Only nonconsuming processes, solvent fractionations and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, were conducted as presteps. Xanthoangelol (1, 35.9 mg, 99.9 % purity at 254 and 365 nm) and 4-hydroxyderricin (2, 4.4 mg, 98.7 % purity at 254 nm and 98.8 % purity at 365 nm) were successfully purified from 70 mg of the processed extract from A. keiskei. The structures of two compounds were confirmed by (1)H- and (13)C-NMR analysis.