HIGH-SPEED COUNTERCURRENT CHROMATOGRAPHY - A PROMISING METHOD FOR THESEPARATION OF THE ANNONACEOUS ACETOGENINS

High-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) was applied, for the first time, to the separation of Annonaceous acetogenins. The two majo r acetogenins of the seeds of Annona atemoya, squamocin and rolliniast atin-2, were isolated in one step using a biphasic mixture of heptane/ ethyl acetate/methanol/water. In addition, this method yielded four pa irs of highly purified acetogenins: squamocin/molvizarin, rolliniastat in-2/asimicin, neoannonin/atemoyin and isodesacetyluvaricin/desacetylu varicin. These pairs were further resolved by HPLC, leading to a total of eight pure acetogenins in two steps. Isolated acetogenins, which a re homologous, position and configurational isomers, have been identif ied by comparison with standards and by spectroscopic techniques.