Abstract
High‐speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) coupled with evaporative light scattering detection, was applied to the separation of saponins from notoginseng, the main root of Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen. Five individual dammarane saponins have been isolated with the solvent systems composed of CHCl3/MeOH/2‐BuOH/H2O (5:6:1:4, v/v/v/v) and EtOAc/1‐BuOH/H2O (1:1:2, v/v/v), successively. They were identified as ginsenoside‐Rg1, ginsenoside‐Rd, notoginsenoside‐R1, ginsenoside‐Re, and ginsenoside‐Rb1 by FAB‐MS and 13C NMR, together with HPLC and TLC analysis.