FRACTIONAL PURIFICATION OF 'OUBAKU'

PURPOSE:To enable economical fractional purification of the titled compound useful as an anti-inflammatory agent, by successively carrying out the processes comprising the extraction of OUBAKU (bark of Phellodendron amurense) with a lower alcohol, removal of the solvent and the extraction with and then with hydrated alcohol of a specific condition. CONSTITUTION:OUBAKU is extracted with a lower alcohol (e.g. methanol, ethanol, etc.) under heating, the solvent is removed, the extraction residue is extracted with hydrated alcohol having a water-content of >=50% or hydrated acetonitrile having a water-content of >=50%, the solvent is removed, the extraction residue is added with water and fractionated with a hydrophobic solvent (e.g. n-butanol, benzene, etc.) the aqueous layer is collected and the solvent is removed to effect the fractional purification of OUBAKU. The characteristic feature of the present process is the production of anti-inframmatory component from a waste obtained by removing berberine-type alkaloid from OUBAKU.