1 background: Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is liquid-liquid partition chromatography without using a solid support matrix. This technique requires further improvement of partition efficiency and shortening theseparation time.
2 methods: The locular multilayer coils modified with and without mixer glass beads were developed for the separation of proteins and 4-methylumbelliferyl (MU) sugar derivatives using the small-scale cross-axis coil planet centrifuge.
3 results: Proteins were well separated from each other and the separation was improved at a low flow rate of the mobile phase. On the other hand, 4-MU sugar derivatives were sufficiently resolved with short separation time at a highflow rate of the mobile phase under satisfactory stationary phase retention.
4 conclusion: Effective separations were achieved using the locular multilayer coil for proteins with aqueous-aqueous polymer phase systems and for 4-MU sugar derivatives with organic-aqueous two-phase solvent systems by inserting a glass bead into each locule.
Keywords: 4-methylumbelliferyl sugar derivatives; countercurrent chromatography; cross-axis coil planet centrifuge; locular multilayer coil; partition efficiency; proteins.