Rapid isolation of three bioactive components from the flowers of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.

The present article is to develop new methods for isolation and purification of bioactive components from the flowers of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.by the combination of macroporous resin column chromatography and high-speed counter-current chromatography.The 70% ethanol extracts of peony flowers was separated by macroporous resin column chromatography and the objective fraction was obtained.Then the fraction was separated by HSCCC with ethyl acetate∶ methanol∶ butyl alcohol∶ water =5∶ 1∶ 0.5∶ 4 two-phase system.The purities of the obtained compounds were determined by HPLC and their chemical structures were identified by1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, MS. Three single compounds, apigenin-7-O-β-D-neospheroside, gallic acid and apigenin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside were successfully obtained from Peony flowers and their purities were all over 95%.The developed method was effective in the isolation of flavonoids and phenolic acid from flowers of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr..