Separation of Acearylenes from High-Temperature Coal Tar

High-temperature coal tar was extracted with petroleum ether(PE) under ultrasonic irradiation and the extracts were analyzed with gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer.The acearylene fractions including acenaphthylene,aceanthrylene and cyclopentapyrene were enriched together and named E,which was then transferred to a cartridge in Isolera-One flash chromatography.Three groups of compounds were eluted out with ethyl acetate/PE mixed solvent(volume ratio 1:9) and named E 1,E 2 and E 3 according to their main components.Acenaphthylene accounted for 78.2% in E 1,aceanthrylene 71.6% in E 2 and cyclopentapyrene 75.9% in E 3,respectively.The three groups of acearylenes were purified by Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography with ethanol/cyclohexane mixed solvent(volume ratio 1:4),and then confirmed with nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.This method indicates that flash chromatography has a good effect on separating the compounds with a similar structure after extraction under ultrasonic irradiation.