Abstract

In the present study, a green and efficient method for the enrichment and separation ofisoliquiritigenin (ISL) from licorice, a well known medicinal and food herb, was critically investigated. Firstly, the performances of adsorption properties for eight ADS macroporous resins were carried out, in order to choose the best resin. And ADS-F8 resin offered the best separation power for ISL, its adsorption equilibrium data fitted well to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Dynamic adsorption and desorption tests were carried out on columns packed with ADS-F8 resin to obtain optimal parameters for separating ISL. The results demonstrated that under optimum parameters for adsorption on ADS-F8 resin were sample solution ISL concentration 0.25 mg/ml, feed volume 2 BV, flow rate 1.5 ml/min, temperature 20°C; while for desorption were elution solution aqueous-ethanol (20:80, v/v) 2 BV, flow rate 1.5 ml/min. The purity of ISL after being treated was increased 7.82-fold from 3.55 to 27.77% with the recovery yield of 80.1%. This separation method is easy and effective, and will provide a potential approach for the large-scale ISL production.

Key words: Preparative separation, isoliquiritigenin; licorice, ADS-F8 resin, adsorption, desorption.