Abstract:

Schisandra fructus oil was prepared through a sequential procedure of combined solvent extraction and refinement based on citric acid treatment and active carbon decolorization. Main factors affecting extraction of Schisandra fructus oil with n-hexane, which was selected for the studies carried out subsequently due to its safety and high purity of product, were optimized for maximizing crude oil output by single factor method, which was also adopted for investigating refinement conditions of crude oil and orthogonal array design. Results showed that the optimal extraction conducted for 2.0 h at 70 ℃ with a liquid/material ratio of 20:1 (V/m) yielded more than 16% crude oil, and the optimal refinement procedure for yielding above 11.5% pure oil was based on heating up to 70 ℃, addition of citric acid solution (70 ℃) and maintaining of the mixed system at 50 ℃ for 6 h, followed by decolorization of upper oil phase with active carbon addition of 3% at 70 ℃.

Key words: Schisandra fructus, extraction, refinement