Accelerated hydrophobic chromatography of plant extracts: a promising tool for study of biologically active polyphenols]

A simple and efficient technique for fast isolation and purification of a total polyphenol fraction from dry herbal plant extract ("Phytoprost" preparation) has been developed. The method is based on sequential cascade of 1.0-5.0 kDa ultrafiltration and the following subsequent column chromatography of resultant oligo/polymeric compounds on Phenyl-Sepharose 4B-CL. This novel procedure allows to obtain a highly purified (not more than 0.5-0.6% of aromatic and heterocyclic impurities) fraction of plant polyphenols in amounts required for pharmacological/biochemical screening (0.85 +/- 0.06 A280/g dry extract) within 8-9 hours.