Large scale purification of puerarin from Puerariae Lobatae Radix through resins adsorption and acid hydrolysis

• The static absorption properties of six macroporous resins were compared.
• The fixed bed adsorption of H103 resin was analyzed.
• H103 resin was used for puerarin purification from Puerariae Lobatae Radix.
• Further through acid hydrolysis, puerarin with purity of 90% were obtained.

Puerarin is the major isoflavone of Puerariae Lobatae Radix. A method for large scale purification of puerarin was developed through resins adsorption and acid hydrolysis. The adsorption properties of six macroporous resins (D101, S-8, H103, X-5, HPD600, AB-8) were compared through the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium adsorption isotherms. Results showed that H103 resin had the best adsorption rate and capacity. The mass transfer zone motion model was further used for analyzing the fixed bed adsorption of H103 resin. Its length of mass transfer zone with 2 mg/ml of puerarin in water and 10% ethanol at flow rate of 10 ml/min were 41.6 and 47.5 cm, while the equilibrium adsorption capacity was 165.03 and 102.88 mg/g, respectively. By using 75% ethanol, puerarin could be well desorbed from the resin with recovery of 97.4%. Subsequently, H103 resin was successfully used for puerarin purification from Puerariae Lobatae Radix. The content of total isoflavones and puerarin in the resin adsorption product were 69.25% and 41.78%, respectively, which were about three times increased compared to the crude extract. Then, the product was hydrolyzed by 2.5 M HCl at 90 °C for 1 h. Puerarin with purity of 90% and a byproduct daidzein with purity of 78% were obtained.