Isolation and purification of closely related citrus limonoid glucosides by flash chromatography

Several citrus limonoid glycosides have proved to be particularly difficult to purify using conventional techniques. A reversed-phase flash chromatographic technique has been developed for the separation and isolation of the closely related limonoid glucosides, nomilin 17-beta-D-glucopyranoside and nomilinic acid 17-beta-D-glucopyranoside, with confirmation of their identities by electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the semi-purification of the mixture of glucosides enriched with flavanone glucosides such as naringin, narirutin and other limonoid glucosides was obtained. The closely eluting glucosides were successfully separated to achieve a good yield and purity of 93%.