Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) was employed as a useful, fast and economic alternative to conventional chromatography techniques for the purification of a synthetic pterocarpanquinone, LQB-118. The separation was performed in a two-step CCC with the solvent system hexane-chloroform-methanol-water 2:1.5:5:2 in both steps. Traditional purification of these reaction products by silica gel column chromatography demanded a large amount of solvent and time, besides allowing the irreversible adsorption of the compound in the column. The use of ¹H NMR for the calculation of K D of target compound is proposed as an alternative for HPLC measurements.
countercurrent chromatography; pterocarpanquinone; flash chromatography; distribution coefficient (K D)
