Large-scale separation of ricinine from a by-product of Ricinus communis L. by pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography

Castor bean meal is the by-product of castor oil production with many active components. One of the major active compounds in castor bean meal is ricinine. In the present study, a pH-zone-refining counter-current chromatography (CCC) method was developed and established to separate ricinine from the by-product of Ricinus communis L. The CCC separation was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of MtBE-CH3CN-water (2:2:3, v/v) at a flow rate of 2.0 mL/min, 10 mM triethylamine (TEA) was added to the upper phase as a retainer and 10 mM HCl to the lower phase as an eluter. As a result, 496 mg of ricinine with the purity of 95.1% was obtained from 2 g crude sample in a single run, and the structure was confirmed by MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR. Experimental results showed that the present method is time-saving, high sample recovery and very suitable for large-scale isolation of ricinine.