Purification of caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and luteolin from Caulis Lonicerae by high-speed counter-current chromatography

Chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid and luteolin are the major phenolic compounds found in the traditional Chinese herbal medicine Caulis Lonicerae. The separation and purification of the three compounds from the crude extract of Caulis Lonicerae was achieved by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) with a two-phase solvent system composed of ethyl acetate–ethanol–water (4:1:5, v/v). Caffeic acid (7.2 mg), chlorogenic acid (15.7 mg) and luteolin (18.8 mg) from 110 mg crude extract of Caulis Lonicerae were obtained and their purities were 95.55%, 97.24% and 98.11%, respectively.