A novel pre-purification method was developed for producing homoharringtonine from Cephalotaxus koreana, giving high purity and yield. The simple, efficient procedure involved biomass extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, and synthetic adsorbent treatment, followed by low-pressure chromatography. The use of active clay treatment and silica gel low-pressure chromatography in the pre-purification process allowed for the rapid, efficient separation of homoharringtonine from interfering compounds and, compared with alternative processes, increased the yield and purity of crude homoharringtonine for subsequent high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) purification. Homoharringtonine of over 52% purity could be obtained simply with high yield from biomass using this pre-purification method, while minimizing solvent use and the scale and complexity of HPLC operations for homoharringtonine purification.
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