Abstract: The optimum extracting process of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid from hawthorn fruits by ethanol method was obtained after using L9(34) orthogonal test plan. We selected three elements-ethanol amounts, extraction hours, and extraction times respectively to observe their effects on the extraction of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid from hawthorn fruits. The orthogonal test results showed that the optimum conditions are as follows: the ethanol used 10 times of hawthorn fruits, refluxed and extracted 3 times, sustained for 2.5 h each time with extraction rate up to 92.9%. The major factor affecting the content of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid is the reflux times. On the basis of these experiments, silica gel column chromatography was used to purify the extraction and the final extraction rate of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid is up to 92%.

Key words: hawthorn fruits, ursolic acid, oleanolic acid, extraction, purification, HPLC