The development of an automated countercurrent chromatography process for isolation of anthocyanins

We developed an automated countercurrent chromatography (CCC) process to isolate anthocyanins from black currant extract utilizing a solvent system of methyl-t-butyl ether, n-butanol, acetonitrile and water with pH adjusted by addition of trifluoroacetic acid in normal phase mode. The process has excellent repeatability as indicated by the high purity of isolated products (90% or better) and the low retention time variability (<10% RSD overall and <5% RSD at constant mass loading). In addition, we determined solvent system ratios to facilitate independent preparation of stationary and mobile phases which enabled us to reduce solvent waste by 70%.