Separation Of Polar Compounds By Affinity Countercurrent Chromatography

A new and highly advantageous method of purifying polar organic compounds using affinity countercurrent chromatography, has been created. This invention permits separation of very hydrophilic organic compounds using countercurrent chromatography in which a ligand for the desired analytes is used to enhance the partitioning of polar species into the organic layer of an aqueous-organic solvent mixture. Examples of polar organic compounds which may be recovered using the present invention include: compounds having two or more functional groups on each molecule which are hydroxyl, amino, acid or lower acyl (e.g., catecholamines, carbohydrates, polyalcohols, polyamines, amino acids, peptides, and nucleic acids).