Abstract: Aloe chromone is a group of anti-inflammatory and anti-tyrosinase constituents found in aloe vera leaves. High-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) is reported for the preparative isolation and purification of a chromone from aloe vera. The crude extract was obtained by a series of pretreatment of aloe vera leaves and extracted from decolorizing active carbon with methanol. Then the extract was distributed between dichloromethane and water, and the organic part was then subjected to HSCCC for the isolation of chromone constituents. The chromone compounds with a high performance liquid chromatographic grade (>95%) was isolated through two step HSCCC separations by employing two solvent systems composed of chloroform-methanol-water and dichloromethane-methanol-water at volume ratios of 4/3/2 and 5/4/2, respectively. The chromone was finally identified as cinnamoyl-C-glycoside chromone by ultraviolet (UV), fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR and 13C NMR).

Key words: aloe chromone, isolation and purification , high-speed countercurrent chromatography