PREPARATIVE ISOLATION OF TETRANDRINE AND FANGCHINOLINE FROM RADIX STEPHANIA TETRANDRA USING REVERSED-PHASE FLASH CHROMATOGRAPHY

Tetrandrine and fangchinoline were successfully separated by reversed-phase flash chromatography on a manually-packed C18 column from Radix Stephania tetrandra. After recrystallization by acetone, 13 mg of fangchinoline and 21 mg of tetrandrine were obtained from 100 mg Stephania tetrandra extract, with their relative content 98.78% and 98.19%, respectively. Their structures were characterized by UV, IR, MS, and NMR. The established method was simple, fast, and reproducible, which can be applied to the preparation of reference substances of tetrandrine and fangchinoline.