Optimization of Water Extraction and Alcohol Precipitation Process for Gardeniae Fructus by Orthogonal Design

Objective: To optimize water extraction and alcohol precipitation process of Gardeniae Fructus. Method: Characteristic peaks were detected at 238 and 440 nm by HPLC-DAD,with peak area of geniposide and total peak areas of fourteen chemical ingredients identified by HPLC fingerprint as comprehensive evaluation index,orthogonal test was adopted to optimize water extraction technology of Gardeniae Fructus by taking the amount of water,decocting time and decocting times as factors; Effects of relative density of extract, alcohol precipitation concentration,stirring speed and alcohol sedimentation time on alcohol precipitation process of water extract were investigated by orthogonal test. Result: Ten and four characteristic peaks in Gardeniae Fructus were determined at 238 and 440 nm,respectively. The best water extraction was as following: decocted three times with ten times the amount of water,30 min each time; Optimum alcohol precipitation process was: relative density of water extract 1. 10 g·mL- 1,alcohol precipitation concentration 70%,stirring speed 200 r·min- 1, alcohol sedimentation time for 10 h. Conclusion: These processes had high accuracy which were optimized by combining with HPLC fingerprints of known and unknown structural components, this study could provide a reference for optimizing extraction technology of traditional Chinese medicine.