Separation and elucidation of the chemical composition of a natural product, from a
medicinal plant, involves a very laborious procedure. For instance, in the case of Chelidonium
majus L, a well –known herb, it was necessary to perform successive extractions with
hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, and n-butyl alcohol. Every fraction obtained was
analyzed in detail by various spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques.