Adsorption and desorption of berberine chloride on kaolinite material

Abstract

Berberine is a very popular drug in Vietnam for intestinal diseases. Research on improving berberine purification is of interest due to the high demand for berberine in current drug consumption. Instead of using extraction processes with the presence of sulfuric acid, berberine was extracted by berberine adsorption from diluted NaOH solution with pH = 11 on the surface of kaolinite material and desorption with dilute HCl solution containing 5% NaCl with pH = 5 at 50 ^oC. The adsorption and desorption efficiencies of berberine under optimal conditions reached 91% and 92%, respectively, when using kaolinite absorbent content at 2000 ppm for 1 hour. This purification method was successfully applied to the medicinal plant sample of Coscinium fenestratum (Vàng đắng in Vietnamese) with a berberine total recovery efficiency of 81% and berberine content of 94%. The NMR spectrum confirmed the molecular structure of berberine.