SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION OF MYRICITRIN FROM BAYBERRY TREE BARK BY HIGH-SPEED COUNTER-CURRENT CHROMATOGRAPHY

Abstract

Myricitrin is a strong antioxidant agent and abundantly present in bayberry tree bark. The separation and purification of myricitrin from the crude extract of bayberry tree bark was achieved by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) in the present study. An analytical HSCCC was used to screen the solvent system, and a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water (3:4:4:3, v/v) was selected for preparative purification. Using HSCCC followed by Sephadex LH-20 chromatography, 195 mg of myricitrin was obtained from 500 mg of crude extract with the purity of 98.5% as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The chemical structure of myricitrin was identified by UV, IR, ESI-MS, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectra data. The results showed that HSCCC was an efficient technique to separate and purify myricitrin from bayberry tree bark extract.