Separation and Purification of Natural Pyrethrins by Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Pyrethrum is an important insecticidal plant. Natural pyrethrins are a mixture of six active compounds from the pyrethrum. Because of the similarity of their structure, pyrethrins are very difficult to be separated and purified. The conditions of reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were optimized, and the six compounds were separated from the pyrethrins oil and purified. The purity of the six compounds was above 99%. The structures of the separated six compounds were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This study provides an effective method of separating and purifying the six compounds by reversed-phase HPLC from the extract of pyrethrins, which would be a very useful aid in detection of the residue of pyrethrins in foods and would enhance functional research and pure product production of the pyrethrins' six compounds.