Study On The Purification Process Of Reserpine From Rauvolfia Vomitoria

Reserpine, a significant alkaloid, acts steadily and lastingly for hypertension therapy. Traditional method of reserpine purification took benzene as extraction solvent, which led to a low recovery yield and severe environment pollution.The paper improved the purification method of reserpine. Acidic water containing ethanol was applied to extract reserpine from Rauvolfia vomitoria. HZ-818 macroporous resin was used to adsorb reserpine for purification. The conditions of adsorption and desorption were investigated. Moreover, various factors affecting reserpine crystallization were studied and the purification process in laboratory scale was determined. Reserpine was extracted from Rauvolfia vomitoria, then it was purified through a process including adsorption and desorption with resin, precipitation of alkaloids, dissolution of precipitation, sedimentation of gum, crystallization and recrystallization. The purity of obtained reserpine was 98.4%. Total recovery yield was 29.8%. According to the purification process of reserpine from Rauvolfia vomitoria in laboratory scale, pilot experiment of reserpine purification was studied to achieve a stable and high-recovering purification process. The recovery yields of successive 6 experiments were 60.6~74.3%. The quality of reserpine was checked according to Chinese Pharmacopoeia and was up to standards. The purification process is superior to the traditional purification process with benzene. It is suitable to industrial production of reserpine.