Method for preparing glycyrrhetinic acid

Abstract

The invention provides a method for preparing glycyrrhetinic acid, which comprises the followings steps of: dissolving glycyrrihizic acid powder with an organic solvent, and extracting and purifying to obtain an extract; in acetic acid, performing catalytic hydrolysis of mineral acid and acetylation to obtain acetyl glycyrrhetinic acid; adding water or alcohol into the acetyl glycyrrhetinic acid,and hydrolyzing under the catalysis of alkali to obtain crude glycyrrhetinic acid; dissolving with an organic solvent, adding active carbon for refluxing and decoloring, and crystallizing to obtain the glycyrrhetinic acid of which the purity is over 97 percent (by a neutralization process); and further crystallizing for multiple times with the organic solvent to obtain the glycyrrhetinic acid with the purity over 98 percent (HPLC). In the method, the glycyrrihizic acid powder is used as a raw material, so the raw material range is widened; the production is carried out under normal pressure, pressure containers are not needed, and the requirement on equipment is low; and the process is easily controlled, the process technology is simplified, and the production cost is low.

Description

technical field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of medical raw materials, and in particular relates to a preparation method of glycyrrhetinic acid, a raw material medicine. Background technique

[0002] Glycyrrhetinic acid is one of the deep processing products of licorice extract. Licorice is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, widely used in medicine, tobacco, food and other fields. Its main active ingredient, glycyrrhizic acid, has corticotropic hormone-like effects and can be used for detoxification, anti-inflammation, antitussive, anti-tumor, etc. The aglycone of glycyrrhizic acid is glycyrrhetinic acid. In the human body, glycyrrhizic acid is hydrolyzed by gastric acid or decomposed by β-glucuronidase in the liver to form glycyrrhetinic acid. The pharmacological effect of glycyrrhizic acid is essentially the effect of glycyrrhetinic acid. Pharmacological studies in recent years have found that the drugs of glycyrrhizic acid and glycyrrh...