Homogenate extraction of ferulic acid from Chuanxiong(Rhizome Ligutici)

Objective To study the homogenate extraction of ferulic acid from Chuanxiong(Rhizome Ligutici),and compare different extraction methods of ferulic acid from Chuanxiong.Methods The percentage content of ferulic acid in extract of Chuanxiong was taken as index,and orthogonal design was applied to observe the influence factors on homogenate extraction.Homogenate extraction was compared with microwave method and ethanol refluxing method reported in literature in extraction rate,extraction time and electricity consumption.Results The optimized technique of homogenate extraction was as follows: 65% ethanol in 20 times volume,homogenate extraction for 1.5 minutes,and the average extraction rate was 75.48%.The average extraction rate was 75.20% by microwave method and 92.50% by ethanol refluxing method.The content of ferulic acid was the highest in the extract of Chuanxiong extracted by ethanol refluxing method,but the extraction time was 200 times longer than homogenate extraction and 75 times longer than microwave method.The electricity consumption of ethanol refluxing method was 125 times higher than homogenate extraction and 235 times higher than microwave method.Conclusion Homogenate extraction and microwave method are simple,economic and rapid,but in the extraction rate of ferulic acid,they are not as good as ethanol refluxing method.