Comparison of elution behavior of catechins in high-performance liquid chromatography with that on high-speed countercurrent chromatography

Abstract

Reversed-phase (RP) partition chromatographic separations of eleven kinds of catechins were performed by HPLC using on ODS monolith column and by high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) with a two-phase solvent system composed of t-butylmethylether/acetonitrile/0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (2:2:3). Procyanidin C1 (PC1; trimeric epicatechin) was strongly retained to the ODS column of RP-HPLC in spite of its smallest value of the octanol/water partition coefficient (log P) among the catechins tested. On the other hand, the retention time of each catechin upon RP-HSCCC separation was decreased with decreasing value of log P. Thus the most hydrophilic oligomer, such as PC1, was first eluted from the RP-HSCCC column.