Microwave-assisted extraction of effective constituents from a Chinese herbal medicine Radix puerariae

Microwave-assisted extraction of the puerarin from the Chinese herbal medic ine Radix puerariae can be completed in 1 min. The yield of puerarin extrac ted from Radix puerariae under different microwave processing conditions ar e compared in this paper, it was shown that the microwave irradiation did n ot destroy the structure or molecule of the puerarin. Solvent, microwave pr ocessing time and the temperature and pressure in the sample vessel are the main factors that affect microwave-assisted extraction of effective consti tuents from Radix puerariae. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.