Abstract: This study focused on the removal of total saponins and the enrichment of total caffeoylquinic acids from Lonicerae Flos using macroporous adsorption resin.The adsorption and desorption capacities for total saponins of 4 resins were compared.The adsorption characters,the elution parameters and the influencing factors of the selected macroporous resin were optimized.The results demonstrated that HPD-100 macroporous resin possessed superior adsorptive and desorptive properties on total saponins than the other 3 resins.The optimized conditions were as follows:the sample concentration was 0.65 g/mL,the flow rate was 2 mL/min,the pH value was 4,the adsorption time was 12 h,and the elution reagents were 5 BV of water and 5 BV of 30% ethanol.Under the optimized conditions,both the removal ratio of total saponins and enrichment ratio of total caffeoylquinic acids were closed to 90%,indicating that the removal technology of this study can significantly decrease the content of total saponins and enrich the caffeoylquinic acids in Lonicerae Flos.

Key words: Lonicerae Flos, macroreticular resin, total saponins, adsorption