Purification of cytokinins on a polyvinylpyrrolidone column followed by analysis on a reversedphase C18ODS HPLC system

It has been found that cytokinins, as a class, can be separated from co-occurring phenolics by column chromatography using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with methanol as eluant. Subsequent fractionation of the cytokinins can then be achieved by HPLC on a C₁₈ODS reversed phase system using methanol: water (60: 40) as the mobile phase. The system shows considerable promise as an extremely mild separation process and has been used to separate two unknown cytokinins from seedlings ofHordeum vulgare cv. Steptoe.