Separation of apple procyanidins into different degrees of polymerization by high-speed counter-current chromatography

Apple procyanidins were fractionated by high-speed counter-current chromato graphy in a one-step operation from apple condensed tannins using a type-J multilayer coil planet centrifuge. The separation of procyanidins was perfo rmed with a two-phase solvent system composed of methyl acetate-water (1:1) by eluting the upper phase at a flow-rate of 1.0 ml/min. Each fraction was examined by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Procyanidins were separated according to their degrees of polymerization. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V . All rights reserved.