NORMAL-PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC SEPARATION OF PROCYANIDINS FROM CACAO BEANS AND GRAPE SEEDS

An HPLC method using a normal-phase silica column and a gradient of di chloromethane-methanol-formic acid-water mixtures as the eluent was de veloped to separate procyanidins on a molecular mass basis, without de rivatization. It was successfully applied to the analysis of procyanid in extracts from cacao beans and grape seeds. The monomers and major d imers were resolved as discrete peaks. Oligomeric and polymeric compon ents were eluted in order of increasing degree of polymerization, as c onfirmed by determining the average molecular mass of successive fract ions collected from the normal-phase column using gel permeation chrom atography, after acetylation.