The separation and purification of hydroxytysol and oleuropein from Olea europaea L. (olive) using a macroporous resin with a novel solvent system was systematically investigated. Static adsorption experiments with BMKX-4 resin revealed that the experimental data of both hydroxytysol and oleuropein fitted best to the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models. The thermodynamic parameters indicated spontaneous and exothermic adsorption processes. The novel solvent system, composed of n-hexane:ethyl acetate:methanol:water in a (v/v/v/v) ratio of 1:9:1:9, had two phases (upper and lower). The separation and purification parameters of hydroxytysol and oleuropein were optimized using dynamic adsorption/desorption on a column packed with BMKX-4 resin. The effects of flow rates and volumes of the upper and lower phases on the separation efficiency were systematically studied. Under optimal conditions, the fraction of hydroxytysol in the final product increased by 6.34-fold from 0.46 to 2.96%, with a yield rate of 88.58% w/w, while that of oleuropein increased 4.17-fold from 11.40 to 47.59%, with a 93.31% w/w yield rate. These results may be help in selecting a suitable eluent for improved separation of macroporous adsorption resins.
Keywords: high-speed counter-current chromatography; hydroxytysol; macroporous resins; oleuropein; solvent systems.
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