| Abstract: | A novel pre‐purification method was developed for producing homoharringtonine from Cephalotaxus koreana, giving high purity and yield. The simple, efficient procedure involved biomass extraction, liquid–liquid extraction, and synthetic adsorbent treatment, followed by low‐pressure chromatography. The use of active clay treatment and silica gel low‐pressure chromatography in the pre‐purification process allowed for the rapid, efficient separation of homoharringtonine from interfering compounds and, compared with alternative processes, increased the yield and purity of crude homoharringtonine for subsequent high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) purification. Homoharringtonine of over 52% purity could be obtained simply with high yield from biomass using this pre‐purification method, while minimizing solvent use and the scale and complexity of HPLC operations for homoharringtonine purification. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry |
