Object To establish the simple and effective technique for preparing water soluble safflor yellow (SY) and hydroxysafflor
yellow A (HSYA) from
Carthamus tinctorius L. Methods Aqueous extract prepared through repeated water extraction at room temperature and vacuum evaporation was added to nonpolar macroporous resin column and the impurities such as sugar were washed out by water,then SY and HSYA was eluted by 30% and 10% ethanol individually. The rate of loss and of recovery was determined with spectrophotometry and HPLC analysis. Results It was observed that the polyamide TLC analysis result of SY and HSYA elution was 4—5 or one yellow spot under fluorescent light. It was shown in HPLC analysis that the content of SY and HSYA in two elutions was 92.4% and 83.0% respectively. In the procedure of sugar washing with water or the effective components eluting by diluted ethanol,the rate of loss and recovery are SY: 7.5% and 80.6%,HSYA: 1.64% and 77.3% respectively. Conclusion This technique is suitable to prepare SY and HSYA in a large scale.