ISOLATION OF BERBERINE

M. M. Tadzhibaev, I. N. Z a t o r s k a y a , UDC 547.944/945

K. L. Lutfullin, a n d T. T. S h a k i r o v

Berberine is used in medicine as a cholagogue [1] and is the starting matorial for the preparation of
a new drug, and therefore the necessity for its isolation has arisen. For this purpose we have investigated
the bark and wood of the roots of Berberis oblonga. It was known previously that berberine was isolated
from some species of Berberis [2-6]. W e extracted our raw material by the methods described. However,
berberine was obtained in comparatively low yield (Table 1) since in the cited reference the use of two
extractions with the preliminary moistening of the raw material with 10% N H 4 O H to liberate the tertiary
bases was envisaged, which subsequently complicates the isolation of the quaternary bases.
In view of this, we extraeed the berberine from the bark and wood of the roots of Berberis oblonga
with ethanol directly from the raw material without preliminary wetting with ammonia. The concentrated
extract was treated with sodium iodide to give berberine iodide [3]. The combined tertiary bases were
isolated from the mother solution. The bark of the roots of Berberis oblonga yielded 2% of berberine and
0.6% of combined tertiary bases, and the wood yielded 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively.

EXPERIMENTAL

Isolation of Berberine
E x t r a c t i o n . The ground wood of the roots of B e r b e r i s oblonga (25.0 kg) was e x t r a c t e d with 95% ethanol
c o u n t e r c u r r e n t l y in a b a t t e r y of e x t r a c t o r s . The e x t r a c t was concentrated in a v a c u u m e v a p o r a t o r to 40
liters.
P r e p a r a t i o n of T e c h n i c a l B e r b e r i n e I o d i d e . With s t i r r i n g , a 50% solution of NaI was added in a thin
s t r e a m to the c o n c e n t r a t e d e x t r a c t . A f t e r 1-2 h, the c r y s t a l s of b e r b e r i n e iodide that had deposited w e r e
s e p a r a t e d off and w e r e dried in a v a c u u m - d r y i n g cabinet. This gave 650.0 g of technical b e r b e r i n e iodide.
P u r i f i c a t i o n of the T e c h n i c a l P r o d u c t a n d R e c r y s t a U i z a t i o n . The technical product (650.0 g) was
washed twice with acetone, dried in a v a c u u m - d r y i n g cabinet, and dissolved in a m i n i m u m amount of boiling
methanol (1 : 100), and the solution was filtered hot and w a s cooled. The c r y s t a l s that deposited w e r e

TABLE 1. C o m p a r a t i v e Results on the Isolation of B e r b e r i n e

Yield, % on the weight of the a i r - d r y raw m a t e r i a l
Extraction wood of the r o o t s b a r k of the roots
berberine s u m of the berberine sum of the
tertiary bases tertiary bases

A c e t o n e - w a t e r (1:1); chloroform, [2] not isolated

Chloroform; ethanol [3] 0.24 0.35 1.1 1.2
Ethanol; c h l o r o f o r m ( b e r b e r i n e
chloride) [4] 0.05 0.1 0.1 0.2
Methanol (with the p r e l i m i n a r y moistening
of the raw m a t e r i a l with 5% HCL) 0.2 0;5

O r d e r of the Red Banner of L a b o r Institute of the C h e m i s t r y of Plant Substances, A c a d e m y of Sciences

of the Uzbek SSR. M . I . Kalinin Andizhan State Medical Institute. T r a n s l a t e d f r o m Khimiya P r i r o d n y k h
Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 48-50, J a n u a r y - F e b r u a r y , 1974. Original a r t i c l e submitted N o v e m b e r 22, 1972.

© 19 75 Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York, N. Y. 10011. No part of tins publication may be reproduced,
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separated off and dried in the air. The y i e l d o f berberine iodide from the bases of the roots was 200.0 g,
mp 262-263°C (from methanol)~ R f 0.3 [TLC, fixed layer of silica gel, chloroform-methanol (9 : 1)].
Extraction of the Tertiary Bases. The residual filtrate was made alkaline to pH 9-10 with 25% NHaOH
and was extracted with chloroform. The extract was concentrated and treated with 10% B2SO4. The sulfuric
acid extract of the alkaloids was washed with chloroform, and the washed acid solution was made alkaline
with25% NH4OH and extracted with chloroform. This gave 60.0 g of combined alkaloids (tertiary bases).

CONCLUSIONS
The conditions for the extraction and i~olation from the wood and bark of the roots of Berberis ob-
longa have been studied.

LITERATURE CITED
1. M. D. Mashkovskii, Drugs [in Russian], Part 1, Moscow (1967), p. 425.
2. S. B. Davidyants and Yu. D. Sadykov, Izv. Akad. Nauk TadzhSSR, No. 3, 46 (1963).
3. S. T. Kholodkov, K. L. Lutfullin, and Z. F. Ismailov, Dokl. Akad. Nauk UzSSR, No. 4 (1965).
4. D. R. Dzhalilov, M. I. Goryaev, and T. K. Kruglykhina, Ref. Zh. Khim., 2Zh, 437 (1965).
5. O. Shvitser, The Production of Pharmaceutical Chemicals [in Russian], Moscow-Leningrad (1934).
6. V. D. Vasilleva and A. I. Shreter, The Search for New Biologically Active Substances [in Russian],
Moscow (1970), p. 17.

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