Selective extraction of berberine and palmatine from Huangbai powder

Berberine and palmatine are two of the main bioactive components in Huangbai, a major Chinese medicinal herb. The current methods to extract these compounds usually involving the usage of inorganic acid and base, are not only complex and time-consuming, but have a low selectivity. In this paper, it was reported that hexane, ethyl acetate and dichloromethane were tested to extract berberine and palmatine from Huangbai powder. The results showed that dichloromethane extracted selectively and effectively berberine and palmatine from Huangbai powder among the examined solvents. In addition, dichloromethane can be recycled and reused, making it a potential candidate for large scale extraction of berberine and palmatine from Huangbai.