Extraction And Separation Of Epimedium Flavonoids

In order to get cheap and high purity Icariin and some other Epimedium flavonoids,the separation of high purity Icariin and mixture of Epimedin A,Epimedin B,Epimedin C from Epimedium extract market sales was studied in this paper.The developing solvent of TLC method to analyze the separation of Icariin,Epimedin A,Epimedin B and Epimedin C was optimized in this paper.It suggested that Epimedium flavonoids were separated effect with a developing solvent which was content of ethyl acetate:butanone: methanol: water = 8:7:1:1(volume ratio).The main Epimedium flavonoids of Epimedium extract raw materials from three different companies by HPLC were all Icariin,Epimedin A,Epimedin B and Epimedin C,but the relative content of each Epimedium flavonoids was not identical: the ratio of this four Epimedium flavonoids of which Epimedium extract raw materials was from Shenogen Pharma Group in Beijing was about 58:6:11:25;the ratio of this four Epimedium flavonoids of which Epimedium extract raw materials was from Hongjiu Biotech in Jilin was about61:6:8:25;the ratio of this four Epimedium flavonoids of which Epimedium extract raw materials was from Xi'an Day Nature Tech Co.,Ltd.was about 56:6:19:19.Extraction and separation of Epimedium flavonoids by D-280 macroporous resin: high purity Icariin and crude Epimedium flavonoids were got from 150 g Epimedium extract which was dissolved in 1500 mL 60% ethanol,desorbed in 12 times the column volume of 60%ethanol,enriched and crystallized.The separation result of the 150 g raw materials of Epimedium extract from different companies: 22.8g high purity Icariin and 78.6g Epimedium flavonoids were got from which Epimedium extract raw materials was from Shenogen Pharma Group in Beijing;11.7g high purity Icariin and 56.5g Epimedium flavonoids were got from which Epimedium extract raw materials was from Hongjiu Biotech in Jilin.20.8g Icariin and 80 g Epimedium flavonoids were got from the Epimedium extract raw materials of Xi'an Day Nature Tech Co.,Ltd.The purity of Icariin reaches more than 90%,and in the 80 g Epimedium flavonoids the ratio of Icariin and mixture of Epimedin A,B,C wasabout 47:53.In this Epimedium flavonoids the content of Icariin was high.Therefore,9.7g undissolved Icariin was got by joining 240 m L 50% ethanol in this Epimedium flavonoids,dissolving Epimedin A,B,C and filtrating.The total two times of Icariin was 30.5g.And45.3g mixture of Epimedin A,B,C in which the content of Icariin was only 25% was got by decoloring,enriching and drying the mother liquor.That was to say,the yield of Icariin was20.3% and the yield of mixture of Icariin and Epimedin A,B,C was 30.2%.It shows that the method is simple and inexpensive,and it provides the basis for large scale preparation.