A method for preparative purification of corosolic acid and nigranoic acid from Schisandra chinensis (SC) was established using a combination of macroporous absorption resin column separation and high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). The crude extracts obtained from SC using 70% ethanol were separated on a macroporous resin column and then eluted with a graded ethanol series. The 70% ethanol fraction was used as the sample for separation of the two triterpenoids by HSCCC. The

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... ase solvent system used for HSCCC separation was chloroform -n-butanolmethanol-water (10:0.5:7:4, v/v/v/v). The upper phase was used as the stationary phase of HSCCC. Corosolic acid (16.4 mg) of 96.3% purity and nigranoic acid (9.5 mg) of 98.9% purity were obtained in a one-step HSCCC separation from 100 mg of the sample. The structures of corosolic acid and nigranoic acid were identified by 1 Hnuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and 13 C-NMR.