Natural product isolation – how to get from biological material to pure compounds

Since the last comprehensive review by Otto Sticher on natural product isolation in NPR (O. Sticher, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2008, 25, 517), a plethora of new reports on isolation of secondary compounds from higher plants, marine organisms and microorganisms has been published. Although methods described earlier like the liquid-solid chromatographic techniques (VLC, FC, MPLC, HPLC) or partition chromatographic methods are still the major tools for isolating pure compounds, some developments like hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) have not been fully covered in previous reviews. Furthermore, examples of using different preparative solid-phase extraction (SPE) columns including molecular imprinting technology have been included. Special attention is given to chiral stationary phases in isolation of natural products. Methods for proper identification of plant material, problems of post-harvest changes in plant material, extraction methods including application of ionic liquids, de-replication procedures during natural product isolation are further issues to be discussed by the review. Selected work published between 2008 and mid-2012 is covered.