Application of computational methods for the isolation of plant secondary metabolites

Plant-derived secondary metabolites have made great contributions to today’s medicine. Separation and purification of such metabolites from a complex mixture are sometimes quite challenging. The incorporation of computational methods in various chromatographic methods has facilitated the purification of compounds from a complex mixture. Such techniques are automatic, robust and offer efficient separation of secondary metabolites. This chapter highlights the computer-aided techniques associated with automated flash chromatography, HPLC, UPLC, ion exchange chromatography, counter-current chromatography and capillary electrophoresis for the isolation of secondary metabolites from complex mixtures. Hyphenated techniques, such as GC-MS, LC-MS and LC-NMR, have also been included for natural product isolation and identification. Several examples of isolation of plant-derived secondary metabolites using computer-aided chromatographic methods have been incorporated.