The invention relates to an extraction method of a
tocopherol intermediate, belonging to the technical field of organic complexing extraction. The
tocopherol intermediate is a product obtained after aminomethylation reaction of non-D-alpha-
tocopherol in a tocopherol concentrated solution. The tocopherol concentrated solution contains higher-content mixed tocopherol (D-alpha, beta, gamma and
delta-tocopherol), also contains a great amount of
glyceride,
fatty acid methyl ester,
sterol ester and other impurities, and the preparation of high-content D-alpha-tocopherol is hindered by the existence of the impurities. The boiling points of the impurities are close to that of tocopherol, therefore, the impurities cannot be separated from tocopherol by distilling and other methods. The non-D-alpha-tocopherol intermediate is a
tertiary amine substance, has certain
alkalinity, and can be combined with an acid to form a salt, and
glyceride and other impurities are easy to dissolve in an
organic solvent. According to the invention, the tocopherol intermediate is extracted from
glyceride and other impurities by a liquid-liquid extraction method, and the obtained non-D-alpha-tocopherol intermediate is almost pure, thus the purpose of purification is achieved.