| Abstract:Objective: To optimize the extraction process of ellagic acid from sea buckthorn leaves and establish a purification method based on macroporous adsorption resin in order to improve the purity of ellagic acid. Methods: High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed, and the content of ellagic acid in sea buckthorn leaves was used as the evaluation index. The extraction process was optimized through single-factor experiments by investigating extraction method, extraction solvent, extraction time, and solid–liquid ratio. The adsorption–desorption performance of macroporous adsorption resins toward ellagic acid was used as the evaluation criterion to screen the optimal resin type from three macroporous resins (D101, AB-8, and SP700). In addition, the purification conditions, including sample loading flow rate, impurity removal volume, and elution volume, were further optimized. Results: The optimal extraction conditions for ellagic acid from sea buckthorn leaves were as follows: 95 % ethanol containing 2 mol·L?1 HCl as the extraction solvent, a solid–liquid ratio of 1:10, and heat reflux extraction for 75 min. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction yield of ellagic acid was approximately six times higher than that obtained using the conventional solvent (95 % ethanol). Among the tested macroporous adsorption resins, AB-8 exhibited the best purification performance. The optimal purification conditions were determined as follows: sample loading at a flow rate of 0.5 mL·min-1, impurity removal with 4 bed volumes (BV) of 30 % ethanol, and elution with 6 BV of 75 % ethanol containing 0.1 % formic acid. The purity of ellagic acid obtained by the established purification process was 7.7 %. Conclusion: The optimized extraction and purification processes were stable and feasible, and could improve the purity of ellagic acid from sea buckthorn leaves to a certain extent, providing a reference for the high-value utilization of sea buckthorn leaf resources. |