PHENOLIC COMPOUND PURIFICATION

摘要

A process for improving the purity of a phenolic compound from a starting material of biological source is disclosed. The process comprises providing the starting material from the biological source comprising a mixture of at least one phenolic compound having a purity P1 and at least one non-phenolic compound. The process also comprises forming at least a fraction of the starting material, an alkaline aqueous solution having at least a pH of about pKa minus 1.5, wherein the pKa is that of the at least one phenolic compound, and insolubles. The process also comprises separating the insolubles from the alkaline solution, whereby there is formed a purified solution comprising at least one purified phenolic compound having a purity P2 and insolubles containing the at least on non-phenolic compound wherein P2 is greater than P1 and the insolubles contain less than about 20 percent (%) of the at least one phenolic compound present in the starting material.