Study on extraction process for Radix Arnebiae

Objective: Study on the influence of the different extraction temperature and extraction method for effective components in Radix Arnebiae to select the optimal extraction process of naphthoquinone in Radix Arnebiae. Method: Spectrophotometry was used to detect the naphthoquinone in Radix Arnebiae and the extract rates by percolation, reflux, soak(65℃), ultrasonic and dip method were compared.With L9(3)4 orthogonal test, the alcohol extraction conditions of Radix Arnebiae was optimized with naphthoquinone content as the index, and the amount of alcohol, extraction time, extraction times as the investigation factors. Result: Among the five methods, naphthoquinone was destroyed by percolation obviously. The extraction rate of naphthoquinone were higher in sample prepared by soak(65℃) and dip methods with no significant difference among the preparation methods. The optimal alcohol extraction conditions were as following:dipping extracting 2 times with 10-fold 95% alcohol, 12 hours for each time. Conclusion: The dip method is simple and save energy and has lower demands for equipments. The optimum extraction process is stable, feasible and reasonable.