A novel and effective chromatographic approach to the separation and purification of isoflavone compounds from Pueraria lobata is described. The method is based on flash chromatography (FC), coupled to preparative high performance liquid chromatography (prep-HPLC) via a six-way valve. The FC step comprised tandem reversed phase columns, pre-packed with MCI gel (Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., Tokyo, Japan) and C18 (Fuji Silysia Chemical Ltd, Osaka, Japan) resin, respectively, and was designed to separate a crude Pueraria lobata extract into several preliminary fractions. Fractions containing the target compounds were then directly injected via the six-way valve into prep-HPLC columns, without further treatment, for final isolation and purification. Nine isoflavonoids were successfully isolated, three through an online mode and the other six through an offline mode. The purities of all compounds exceeded 95.0%, as determined by HPLC with an UV-vis photodiode array detector. The convenience, low solvent consumption, and time-saving advantages of this method offer an attractive and promising approach to the isolation of natural products
