Spiral counter-current chromatography: Design, development, application, and challenges
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Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Automated Counterflow Centrifugal System for Small-Scale Cell Processing
Published on: December 12, 2019
Xin-Yi Huang1, Xiao-Ming Sun1, Dong Pei1,2
1Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Northwestern Plant Resources and Key Laboratory for Natural Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Gansu, China.
Abstract:
Depending on the rapid growth in the radial gradient of the centrifugal force, spiral counter-current chromatography can greatly improve the retention of stationary phase, especially for the aqueous two-phase systems with ultra-polar and high viscosity that are not well retained in the conventional multilayer coils counter-current chromatography. As a result, it is an attractive and alternative technology that is suited for separation of hydrophilic compounds and has led to many exciting progress in recent years. This review presents the recent advances and applications of spiral counter-current chromatography, including its major benefits and limitations, some novel methods to improve the separation efficiency and its applications in separation of real samples. In addition, the remaining challenges and future perspectives on development of spiral counter-current chromatography also are proposed in this article.
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