Recovery of value-added anthocyanins from mulberry by a cation exchange chromatography

Anthocyanins are often targets in polyphenol analysis. However, it's hard to effectively separate anthocyanin from copigments such as phenolic acid and flavanols due to their similar structure. Thus, a cation exchange chromatography with 001 × 7 has been developed, which is available for anthocyanins isolation both on a small and large scale. The optimal process condition of anthocyanins isolation was determined. Compared to the macroporous adsorbent resins and Strong Cation Exchange resin (SCX), 001X7 shows greater economic advantages in large-scale purification of anthocyanins. More than 95% purity of the anthocyanin fraction can be achieved through this approach. This method shows a path to provide large quantities of copigments-free anthocyanins from mulberry polyphenols for the further study of its biological effects and may be extended to other analytical methods of polyphenol isolation from other plant materials.