Chapter 12. Isolation and Purification of Natural Products

Abstract

The isolation and purification of compounds from natural products is the most important step for molecule structure identification, bioactivity test, quantity control of natural products and further industrial production. However, the isolation and purification of natural products is laborious and difficult, because they are usually complex in matrix, the active compounds are usually present in low content and can be thermolabile, etc. For these reasons, the selection of appropriate techniques and approaches is essential for obtaining the target compounds with a high yield. Over recent decades, many types of novel isolation and purification techniques, such as membrane filtration, preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), counter-current chromatography (CCC), supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), etc., have been introduced and investigated. However, it must be stressed that none of these techniques provide by itself a comprehensive solution to all separation problems and the best approach is usually to utilize a combination of different techniques. This chapter will present the techniques for the isolation and purification of natural products. Some case studies will be used to illustrate the isolation strategies for obtaining target compounds from various types of natural products.